Voices of Heritage Echo at Chitkara University on Mother Language Day Celebration

Chitkara University observed International Mother Language Day with deep respect, quiet reflection, and an unwavering commitment to preserving linguistic diversity. The event, curated by the Office of Student Affairs, was not designed as a typical performance or celebration. It was a profound encounter with the essence of identity, heritage, and cultural memory—spoken not in borrowed dialects, but in the intimate languages of home.

The gathering created a space where languages—often reduced to official forms or forgotten scripts—reclaimed their pulse through voice, emotion, and lived experience. Students stepped forward, not to compete, but to express. From Punjabi to Bengali, Tamil to Dogri, and many more, each mother tongue rose not merely as speech, but as song, story, memory, and truth. There were no stage lights or applause cues. There were no names, no winners. Instead, each participant stood as a custodian of a culture carried forward in cadence, tone, and memory.

Folk tales emerged not from books, but from living breath. Ghazals resonated with an emotional depth that transcended translation. Poetry, once confined to academic recitation, took the form of an ancestral rhythm. The power of language was evident not in what was said, but in how it was remembered—repeated not for applause, but for preservation.

The atmosphere remained solemn and electric, held together by the unspoken understanding that language, at its core, is an inheritance. It is how communities heal, how stories endure, and how identities resist erasure. One student, voice shaking but resolute, recited in a tongue many did not know. Yet every listener felt the truth embedded in the delivery, a testament to the universality of expression.

As the event came to a close, the silence that followed was not empty—it was reverent. Participants left not with certificates, but with a deeper awareness of the languages they carry and the histories those languages hold. It was a reminder that to speak one’s mother tongue is to honour those who came before and to ensure that their stories will not fall silent.

International Mother Language Day at Chitkara University served not as a ceremonial observance, but as a living archive—one where every word was a bridge, every voice a legacy, and every language a home waiting to be remembered.