Srinagar, July 14 -- In Banpora Wahibugh, a small village tucked between saffron fields and walnut trees in south Kashmir, time moves like a whisper.

The mornings are unhurried. Women sweep courtyards in silence. The sound of a creaking wooden gate often breaks the stillness before the first kettle sings.

And in one such home, with sunlit windows and rugs worn thin from years of use, sits Naveeda Yousuf, embroidering dreams with a needle and her bare hands.

She is neither famous nor formally trained. She has no title, no institution behind her name. But across this village, she is known simply as "Wousti Bhaye", the female mentor.

The title came slowly.

Years ago, she was just a girl sitting beside her teacher, watching him stitch in...