"It was a wonderful experience interacting with you and appreciate the way you have planned and executed the whole publication process within the agreed timelines.”
Subrat SaurabhAuthor of Kuch Woh Pal
“If you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head. If you talk to him in his language, that goes to his heart.”
― Nelson Mandela
Mother Tongue is the first we learn or acquire naturally. It plays an important role as a means of communication and mark of identity. It gives us a distinct identity to our shared ancestry, culture, history, and roots.
Being Kashmiri, we have lost our home and the gradual loss of our mother tongue too. This loss of a language means loss of identity.
As the Kashmiris are living far and wide from their homeland all over the world, the younger generation is exposed to other languages Hindi, English, and other languages.
Proverbs are part of every spoken language and reflect the economic, social, political, and religious atmosphere at that time. These proverbs are passed to several generations and thus, there is a slight change in the wordings. We can say it is oral communication that was passed on to the generations.
So, this Illustration book of Kashmiri proverbs is a reflection of those Kashmiri proverbs which were used in our homes and somehow are now lost.
A humble effort to keep the Kashmiri language alive in the form of Proverbs. It would be immensely helpful for our next generation to understand the richness of their mother tongue.
Meetu Koul
Meetu koul was born in New Delhi, brought up in Srinagar and later did her schooling in Leh after exodus. Completed a degree in Engineering and Post-Graduation in Management. Worked in Corporate India but shared love of the mother tongue made her to look at various Kashmiri proverbs and how the usage has changed over time.
As proverbs tell us not only of the world before our time but our roots, culture, social, economic and religious patterns. They give us our grounding roots and a sense of continuity that is unique part of our identity. But what about the language they spoke.
Question Arise: What is lost for individuals and culture when a language is no longer spoken.
So, this Illustrated Kashmiri Proverb Book is an attempt to revive that.
Kashmiri proverbs have changed a lot as documented in various books but in this book only a few proverbs are selected which are recent in memory. It is important to point out that both Hindus and Muslims were using these proverbs .
Meetu lives in New Delhi and Working as a Management Consultant
