As residents of Kashmir, our mother tongue is Kashmiri and we have to accept it, promote it, and preach it. There is no doubt that feelings are expressed in the mother tongue and the influence of the mother tongue remains till one's death. It doesn't matter whether we speak it or not but the language our land, our parents, and our grandparents spoke or speak, is our identification not a tag. We are born in Kashmir so we are Kashmiri.

But the question is; why don't we speak Kashmiri?

Why Do We Feel Humiliation in It ?

We try to change the intuition of our children, don't we? We tend to be foreigners in our native place and our pure intent remains to impress others that our children don't know Kashmiri .Everyone in the world knows that people in Kashmir speak Kashmiri . It is also the main objective of our commercial Schools to erase the mother tongue from the web of our children's brain. We have to shatter this illusion and revive our sentiment. The main purpose of celebration of "International Day of Mother tongue" is to encourage and revive the mother tongues in the whole world .There is no shame in speaking or promoting one's mother tongue .It is rather a sense of pride.
Kashmir is the only region in the world where people prefer other languages over their mother tongue; where schools focus on second language and third language and ignore inborn language. And the day is not far when our children would ask us, "What is our mother tongue?"
Surely we can't say "Urdu", " Hindi " "English" or "Punjabi".These are the second or third languages. Speaking Urdu or English is good but avoiding Kashmiri is bad. When we avoid Kashmiri, we avoid our culture, our identity, heritage and our birth as Kashmiri.
Mother tongue is in our intuition. It helps in the quick cognitive and intellectual development of children provided they can speak it fluently. Studies have revealed that the rate of educational success in the mother tongue is higher than those who are taught in other mediums.
Languages are the most important means of saving our culture. Language and human culture are intimately related and indispensable to one another. The highest level of ignorance is ignoring the mother tongue. The direct translation of one language to another might not carry the same essence as it is in the source language. Thus, the best way to entirely know about a culture is to know the language. It keeps us connected to our culture and our roots. The mother tongue is used to preserve the culture and civilization of any race. English or Urdu can not ooze that occult of sentiments as our Kashmiri can...We should teach our children in the rudiments of our mother tongue and then let them proceed further. Our language is our pedigree so we should save it. It is also said that the mother tongue is the language of the soul and acquired languages are painted on it.
Knowing our mother tongue well is a matter of pride not shame. It boosts our enthusiasm and creates awareness in our minds.
Unfortunately, we prefer other languages and create confusion among children consequently they are unable to decide which is their mother tongue. The mother tongue helps in providing a definite shape to our emotions and thoughts. Learning in our mother tongue is also crucial in enhancing other skills such as critical thinking and skills to learn a second language.
See how our apathy destroys the intuition of our mother tongue. In the recent past, Government introduced Kashmiri as a subject in all schools irrespective of their nature i.e private or Government. The strangest thing in this connection was that only Government and rural private schools started teaching it that too as an optional subject. It was not made compulsory in examinations consequently the initiative lost the essence and the move failed bitterly.
We as Kashmiri parents never stressed its importance or appreciated our children learning it. May I know why?

Why Do We Feel Inferior in Speaking and Learning Kashmiri ?

We love and respect our saints like Sheikh Alam, Lall Arifa, Habbeh khatoon, etc but we are unable to understand their poetry or teachings. We quote their sayings to impress others but are not ready to teach our children the language of our ancestors. We must remember that Kashmir is the abode of Kashmiries and Kashmiries are identified by the Kashmiri (kosher)language. So, perishing of Kashmiri language implies the end of Kashmiri culture and civilization.
Time has come to introspect and decide who we are; Kashmiri or anything else.
If we consider ourselves Kashmiri and mean it, then we have to adopt Kashmiri as our prime language. We have to direct our emphasis on Kashmiri literature which is as rich as the literature of English.
The government of J&K has taken an initiative to translate Environmental Science into the Kashmiri language which needs our appreciation and cooperation. Education policy 2020 accentuates that early schooling should be in the mother tongue. Let's push educational institutes to do the same. It will revive our mother tongue and add to our dignity. As our pride and dignity lie in our culture and culture depends on our mother tongue so we need to water it for survival.
It is pertinent to mention here that if we don't speak Kashmiri, we can't call ourselves Kashmiri and if we are not Kashmiri then what is our identity?
Speaking English can't make us American or British even living in such countries can not obliterate our Kashmiri tag.It is our collective responsibility to keep our mother tongue alive and humming.

Email:--------------manzoormalik3@gmail.com