YES SIR!!!!!

"Saar", "Sirrr", "Saheb". We Indians are a society that gives much emphasis to age,hierarchy and seniority. It is expected of us. Since the British got us under their thumb, we have have been adressing our seniors and bosses as "Sir" - the word that has a colonial connotation.We address senior ladies as "Madam".

Times have changed in corporate offices your corrected for calling a senior as "Sir". Your reminded that "Sir" is passe."I am Jayaram, but you can call me Jerry." So honorifics are no longer the norm. But it gets confusing, because sometimes, we are reminded to call our seniors as "Sir".

For eg: My Mom, once a telephone operator called a Chief Engineer of the Railways as Mr. So and So. He was angry and complained to the office manager, that the lady in the office called him Mr.So and So. My Mom was pulled up and asked to call every one who called in, as a standard "Sir". She resented it.Even today reminds me of how parochial people are, wnating the title "Sir".

My Mom isn't alone, my grandaunt, once asked me "Why do you Sir everybody?". Today one of my friends said at her wing in the office everyone calls each other by first names and in my section of the office it was formal with Sir.She told me how "old fashioned" it sounded. She thinks "Sirring/Madaming" someone means your in a way subjected to be under them. And never be able to meet on equal ground.

In these globalaized times, all of us are comrades, there is a uniform equality that we all aspire for - hence first name basis. But the Indian workplace is still a mixture of the modern and the old. So I feel comfortable titling people from my boss to the cleaner as "Sir". It doesn't hurt to call anyone Sir, and those who don't like being titled tell me so.In the army campus that I live in, it is "Sir", "Mam" all the time, it is protocol. These titles spread a sort of "conformity" among the officers and their wives, which is necessary in military life.

I have observed that "Sir" is a potent word, it makes pople feel respected and powerful. Why destroy that for someone? I am not like my Mom and Grandaunt, they feel "Sirring" is outdated. The politics of colonial culture is to be blamed. The British left us with a lot of their formality. In this day and age we want to give it up, we're/want to be free to call each other by given names. Individuality is retained, or so people think.

But I will never give up adressing people by "Sir/Madam", unless they advice otherwise. It makes me feel more respectful of them and they seem to appreciate it.