But few eyebrows were raised when Farhad and friend Sheeba Masoodi launched "She" -- the first women's magazine in Indian Kashmir, a Muslim majority state where an Islamic revolt against Indian rule since 1989 has killed more than 45,000 people.

The two women epitomise the new face of Kashmiri women who are eager to experiment with some of the social changes sweeping the Indian subcontinent while maintaining their Islamic identity and values.

"Kashmir is changing," Farhad said one afternoon as she sat on the sprawling lawns of Kashmir University.

"The world thinks Kashmiri women do not have guts and they are very conservative. This is not true. 'She' is an effort to show how talented Kashmiri women are and yes, we also date."

There was a time in Kashmir in the early 1990s when a mere poster on a mosque wall, asking women to wear head-to-toe veils, would be enough to send then scurrying back home.

Barring one theatre in a high-security zone, all cinemas have remained shut since 1989. This May, some cable TV channels were ordered to shut, allegedly by the militants, for spreading "obscenity" in the form of slightly risque music videos.

And since April, when a prostitution scandal -- in which girls, some of them minors, were said to be supplied to politicians and police officers -- surfaced in the region's summer capital, Srinagar, women avoided beauty parlours after claims they were also involved in the sex trade.

DREAMING BIG
But below the surface, a silent awakening is taking place.

Old taboos are breaking as parents pursue new dreams for their daughters.

"Our religion does not say you can not send your women out," said Mukhtar Ahmad, a Srinagar bank employee.

"My wife is working. My daughter is in a medical college and I want to send her abroad for further studies. Kashmiris are moderate and this moderate society has survived the bloodshed."

A lull in violence compared to the height of the insurgency has also helped women get out of their homes.

In the sun-soaked university campus, dozens of young girls were seen flocking outside classrooms and walking confidently in colourful clothes: Heads were covered but there were no veils in sight.

"Due to the violence, I think the voice of Kashmiri woman was not heard before," said Dilruba Malik, a 23-year-old student. "But things are changing now. Our voices are becoming louder. Kashmiri women are working alongside men."

The change, however, is not easy and every now and then comes a grim reminder that women in this scenic Himalayan Valley live under the watchful eyes of Islamist militants, who have the power to change their lives.

PROTECTIVE VEIL
Since the sex scandal, allegedly involving top politicians, police and bureaucrats, the streets of Srinagar have seen many protests demanding that Indians leave the Valley.

The protests have often been led by Asiya Andrabi, leader of the Dukhtaran-e-Milat (Daughters of the Muslim Faith), a women's separatist group.