I am amused to read in a prominent
English weekly about a former MOS in the Union Government ,
belonging to the TMC, who when asked what he missed about the ministry days, said that it was being
addressed as Sir………! His is not the lone
example as many others find themselves in the same boat, once they are out of
office or position.
One of the many (?) perks that come along by being in a position
of authority or even while working in a
supervisory capacity is being addressed as ‘Sir’ by persons
who happen to be steps below in the
official hierarchy. Many of the
young entrants- barely in their twenties or early thirties - to the Service to which I belonged not long ago, visibly look most
happy when addressed as ‘Sir’ by junior
colleagues – I dislike the word ‘ subordinate ‘- much older in age.
‘Unfortunately’ it
is rarely that I have been called ‘sir’ by my junior colleagues , to whom even
behind my back, I have been just ‘ Sharma ji ‘ .This at times left me thinking
that perhaps I did not look like one
or simply did not deserve to be where I was. Now when I visit my
old offices, I am welcome , am paid due regard and listened to carefully and attentively and enjoy exchanging pleasantries with my former colleagues . This perhaps is the secret of being plain ‘Sharma ji ’. In hindsight , I feel that perhaps they did not want to have artificial distance being created between us as they considered
me one of them if not ‘ their very own ’.
And why should I mind not being
called ‘Sir’ , as I was only a small cog in
a wheel of the Government machinery
and did nothing of note to
deserve the honorific much as ‘Sir’
was a hard earned knighthood in British India
–and is still there in Great Britain- with only a handful of Indian stalwarts like Sir Chhotu Ram, Sir Ganga Ram,
Sir J.C.Bose and also
the Nobel Laureate Rabindranath
Tagore in the league , who returned the knighthood, aggrieved over the Jallianwalla massacre.
