Sir, Yes Sir, No Sir

By now, I am sure you have heard of Rinku Singh and Dinesh Patel - the first Indians to get a contract with a major league baseball team. On December 8, 2008, The Pittsburgh Pirates signed these two gentlemen to a minor league deals as pitchers. Their story is definitely one for Bollywood movies!! These guys won the competition called "Million Dollar Arm" in India and were brought to the US to have a try out with major league scouts. They have been interviewed on NPR, USA Today carried an article on them, and ESPN did a feature on them last week on thier "Outside the lines" show.  I wish these guys all the best. Already the second season of MDA is in full swing and I am sure there will be one or two more worthy candidates that will get to test their skills in the majors.

One thing I noticed during all these interviews was, how these guys kept saying Sir at the end of pretty much everyone's names and sentences and reminded me of the time I first came to the US. As is the habit in India, you address anyone in any position of authority, superiority with a "Ji" (in North India) or Sir (especially if they are your teachers, boss) or "Sair" in South India.  When I had my first meeting with my graduate advisor at Penn State, I would address him and respond to him with a "Sir" added to his name. At the end of the conversation, my advisor told me that I need not address him with a "Sir" and just call him by his first name, or if I feel the need to give him respect for his position and/or age, just address him as "Dr.________".  It was kind of weird at the start but I soon got used to it. These days, I pretty much address most of the professors I interact with by their first names without even pausing for a second. I had always admired the "informal" way Americans (all westerners typically) do business.

"Respect your elders" -- That's always a running theme when you are in India. Obviously, its a good thing to respect your elders. So much so, sometimes, that people never even think twice about what they are being told to do, never question authority. "Oh the elders know better!". This is counterproductive many times, because the kids never gets to experiment themselves and don't get in to the habit of asking why and why not. This kills off ingenuity and creativity.  I guess a good balance of "advice and guidance" and "let's step back and let the kid figure it out" is what is needed. From the kid's point of view, its counterproductive to question authority just for the sake of doing it as well. There is that phrase again, "everything is good in moderation".