Srinagar, July 25 -- By Farooq Ahmad Khan

Kashmiris have always had a proverb for ungrateful children: "Baeba Budtum, Khidmatta Kartum" meaning, "Dear father, grow old so you can serve me."

Whoever coined it meant it as satire, a barb thrown at sons and daughters who reversed the natural order and put their aging parents back to work inside their own homes.

Years of practising law and watching families up close have changed the way I hear this proverb.

What once sounded like a joke now sounds like a diagnosis.

My point is simple, and I think it is hard to dismiss: parents spend their most productive years giving up comfort, savings, sleep and personal ambition for children who have not asked for any of it.

Old age should be the payo...