Srinagar, June 11 -- Every year, like clockwork, someone says it: Kashmir didn't spend much this Eid.

It's said in newsrooms, shop counters, WhatsApp forwards, and expert panels. The logic is simple: fewer fireworks, fewer shopping bags, fewer sales receipts must mean less celebration, less life.

But what if that reading says more about the expectations of the observer than the choices of the people?

I spent this Eid in Pulwama, and what I saw didn't match the headlines. There was no loud extravaganza, no flood of shoppers choking the roads. But there was movement, warmth, and intention. People bought what they could, and what they needed. A little meat. A pair of sandals for the youngest daughter. Biscuits from the baker, who sold out...