Blog XXII of Thirty Days – Thirty Blogs series
“Sir, Can you please tell me…” is how typically emails from my NSIT juniors start. Like many other colleges, juniors refer to their seniors in NSIT as Sir or Madam (not both, please make note of that) and that habit sticks on, often for their complete lifetime.
Why call seniors Sir/Madam, well for one they like it. It is probably a vestigial remains of the once rampant ragging and introduction campaigns (as a junior myself, I had to enact fire in a mock marriage since I was wearing yellow) where seniors would get the thrills out of making their juniors conform to a certain code of conduct. Some juniors claim that it is out of respect although that seems to be more of an afterthought than the real reason. Another reason is that perhaps it is a good starting point to ensure that no tempers are frayed in case the other person was expecting a Sir/Madam.
Having done part of my education in US and worked in two MNCs, I got accustomed to the culture of calling your seniors by their first names or their titles (Dr., Prof.) which in my view builds a better work environment. It somewhere encourages the notion that despite seniority, one should be humble enough to have a conversation with his juniors without requiring use of titles. It also fosters an informal environment.
What do you think about this ? Please leave comments below.
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