OK, someone has to say this, because it is embarrassing now. Educated, well-travelled, professionally capable, otherwise sane people who ought to know better seem to keep referring to Mr Ratan Tata as ‘Sir Ratan Tata’ on social media (mainly on Twitter, but also on other platforms and in real life too; I legit heard an MC of a program I attended last week do it).
Do they not know that:
- Sir Ratanji Jamsetji Tata (20 January 1871 – 5 September 1918) was the grandfather of Ratan Tata (through Sir Ratanji’s adopted son, Naval), and is the person the ‘Sir Ratan Tata Trust’ (SRTT) is named after (perhaps the cause of confusion); and
- ‘Sir‘ as a prefix is used by those who are knighted by the ruler of England (KCIII as of date, and QEII for a long time before him) and Ratan Tata has not been knighted, nor would he want it if offered, nor is he allowed to accept it as per the rules that govern his Indian citizenship?
If you really must show respect to Mr Tata, by adding a title he has neither been offered, nor would accept, nor can use, you are doing the exact opposite of that (show your respect). You are insulting him. Just like if I were to mispronounce his name or misspell it. Please do not do it. If you really must add ‘Sir’, add it as a suffix, and that too is completely unnecessary, to be honest. This whole ‘Sir’ing of people in India is very colonial in its origins and smacks of empty flattery and forced respect bordering on the obsequious. You really can drop it without losing an iota of the respect you intended for the person being addressed unless, of course, you are faking this respect in the first place. Remember, this is 2022. Let’s get with the program now. Indeed, even in 1922, this much ‘Sir’ing would have been out of place in an egalitarian society.
On a side note, people also keep referring to Former President of India APJ Abdul Kalam as ‘Dr Kalam’ when he was, in fact, not one (you are not allowed to use the prefix ‘Dr’ with honorary PhDs and DLits, despite what ‘Dr’ Vijay Mallya would want you to believe), and it seems to be the same affliction: a misplaced notion of respect combined with a willingness to suspend disbelief when reading stuff that plays to one’s confirmation bias and appeals to one’s insecurity and some innate sense of duty regarding someone who is seen as a hero.
P.S.: And while you are here, let me also add that some of the stuff being passed on and shared using his name is ultra pro max cringe material (equivalent to the UNESCO and national anthem WA forwards), as is his apparent elevation to demi-God status. As I said, you are all well-read, well-travelled, well-educated professionals. You ought to know better.
P.P.S.: The quote in the image is not his, just like 9/10 of the things people ascribe to him. Are we so starved of idols and so insecure about real ones that we have to create one straight out of WhatsApp U even when his (Mr Tata’s) real life is so much more exciting than anything we can pretend and imagine it to be?
