Some 13 km north to the town of Anantnag in south Kashmir, my village, Seer, lies in the lap of the Pir Panjal mountains, the largest range of the low Himalayas. The houses in my neighbourhood are made of red-baked bricks and slanting tin roofs, and huddle close together, forming a continuous line along one side of the main road, which links the village to the town. The other side of the road runs along the mountains. It has a short row of kiosks interspersed with some houses, fallow la