There was a time when Kashmiri, our sweet mother tongue, was spoken everywhere. People spoke it fluently, read it with ease, and wrote it beautifully. But it’s heartbreaking to see it struggling today. Back then, Kashmiri wasn’t taught in schools because people loved and spoke it so much at home. Not to talk of reading or writing it, now we hardly speak it. Modern parents don’t speak to their children in Kashmiri, neither at home nor outside.Sadly, some people now feel ashamed of it. They think speaking Kashmiri makes them look inferior. They feel small about using their own mother tongue. But our elders were never like this. Our parents always spoke to us in Kashmiri, with pride and grace. They never mixed it or spoiled it.  These new forms we hear today—city Kashmiri or village Kashmiri—are our creations. Our elders never divided the language like this.

It is highly deplorable that in our fast life where the consciousness and way of life have radically changed, our majje zaev is deteriorating day by day and facing many difficulties. In our homes, the state of kashir zaban is like that of a daughter-in-law who hasn’t brought along enough dowry. We have no emotional attachment for it whatsoever. We feel shy and absurd to converse and exchange our ideas in this sweet and lucid language because........

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