Srinagar, May 22 -- He said "millennial"; I heard "millionaire". So I kept repeating "millionaire" and he kept hearing "millennial".

"Arsalan, we are millennials!"

Standing in a crowded bus, Haris tried for once to sound intelligent in front of his class-topper best friend by sharing a new English word he'd picked up from a tuition classmate.

The boys had just finished their Class 10 board exams. It was late 2011, and they had been living in a rented room in Srinagar for the past two weeks, juggling their 11th-grade medical studies with one keypad phone, two kangris, some coal, and pherans they barely dared wear in the city.

Arsalan, who had once told Haris that culture was important, was the first to shed it after spotting boys flaun...