Sahadev, you have missed to say 'Ji'!

So next time when you are speaking in Hindi, do not forget to add 'Ji' as suffix of the name or surname that you have just spelled out. If s/he is a senior person, missing 'Ji' is a blunder. People from non-Hindi belt, are you listening to me? You should be little cautious in your wording while speaking to your seniors in Hindi, as there are every possibilities of missing 'Ji'. It may happen that others take it as disrespect. So be careful. The other day, my CM (HR) asked, "Sahadev, what the news is all about?" I replied spontaneously, "Sir, it is all about the statement of Mandal, Saha and Pandey." The CM-HR got the answer that there was no coverage of our GM's statement. But my colleague Durgesh, sorry Durgesh ji, who hails from the heart of Hindi-belt and of course helped me in improving my Hindi, picked my error. "Sahadev, you have missed to add 'Ji' to all the three senior persons you have just named," he pointed out. I replied him politely that it was not intentionally missed. In fact, I replied the CM-HR in English, so there was no chance of adding 'Ji'. But he was not convinced and advised me to add 'Ji' whether it's in English or Hindi, at least if you are in Bihar or UP.I admit of my fault of using 'Ji' regularly irregular. But it does not mean I do not have any respect to my seniors. You may blame it to my state culture (Orissa) or my professional experience as journalist in Delhi. In Orissa, we never use 'Ji' as suffix; rather we use Sir, Mr, Madam and Mrs according to their sex. Hope, people from South India, North-east and West Bengal will agree with me on it. Remember, people from these areas are highly prone to miss the 'Ji' in general. Similarly, working as journalist, I think, has incorporated the MNC culture in me. When I came to Delhi straight from my village in Orissa, I faced the same cultural contradiction. In the beginning, I used to call my seniors as madam and sir respectively to their sex. One day, my Editor, double to my age, called me to her cabin and said, "Look, in a media organization no body is Sir and Madam. We are all working as team, and all are equally responsible for a quality output." It took me a long time to call her by name, which is against my cultural value that I nurtured over the years. Changing a cultural value normally takes a long time. Hope most of us will agree with me. As far as using of 'Ji' is concerned, I look it at holistic perspective. Adding 'Ji' as a mark of respect irrespective of age is part of natural-Hindi speaking people and Hindi language. So we all non-Hindi speaking people should respect their sentiment. However, here I would expect from my original-Hindi speaking brethren to be patient with non-Hindi speaking people. It is commonly accepted that thing learned as natural is certainly different from the same learned as part of profession. In present organization, thousands employee will agree with me that they learned Hindi only after joining NTPC. So here, to what extent one can speak or/and write Hindi is a subjective matter. In NTPC, with more than 25,000 employees coming from all parts of the country, it is very difficult to have a common language. However, Hindi language has its advantage. Besides being the national language, most of the NTPC projects are in Hindi-speaking belt, which give an opportunity to Hindi to consolidate its position as common language. However, some people may argue for English. For them I have one logic: If I communicate in English, half of my colleagues, mostly at the bottom of the hierarchy will remain aloof. But if I speak in Hindi with minor mistake (initially), I can communicate all – top to bottom. For me the top as well as the bottom people is essential to successfully discharge my responsibility. Above all, with numerous options provided by my company to improve Hindi, what I need is a positive attitude: I can do it; I can write and speak correct Hindi.