Gaurav Dhakar, the founder of Medhola ardently supports No Sir No Madam ideology. Udaipur, Rajasthan based start-up has launched India’s first online healthcare solution aggregator for on-demand preventive and supportive services, aimed to provide, reliable and quality medical services called as Medhola. Digital platform allows user to book non-emergency medical care service like a nurse or a physician doctor or medical store or a path lab house visits, which would otherwise require much time and money.
Medhola has tied up with the service providers across the city of Udaipur for non-critical and non-emergency issues such as fever, cold, small injuries, medicine delivery, pathology test etc. which accounts for 70% medical care requirements.
Gaurav is a computer science engineering graduate and MBA from the esteemed Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies (NMIMS). Furthermore, Gaurav has also earned a diploma in future leaders in development, executive program from the renowned Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Udaipur and holds a PhD in consumer behavior. He belongs from a family of doctors.
Gaurav understood the challenges faced by both medical fraternity and patients, wanted to do something for to support them in return. This also helped him in extending the medical services to people who cannot afford to visit the hospitals and clinics.
He enthusiastically follows No Sir No Madam custom in his organization. He states — We have a young organization.
We maintain a casual culture in our office where everyone addresses each other by their first-name. People use nicknames too, to communicate with each other. I always ensure to inform people that they can converse with me on a first-name basis.
I remember once we were working on a new project. We had created a WhatsApp group for communication, and everyone would address me as ‘Sir’. I had to inform them that they can either refer to me by my first-name or as “GD”, my nickname. I even laughingly said, it would make me feel younger, if all of you would interact with me by my name.
Gaurav continues “it takes time for people to adapt to a salutation-ridden form of communication, especially when you have the culture ingrained in you since childhood. However, I think it is equally important for people to practice and preach about No Sir No Madam culture relentlessly. Only then we will be able to change the mindsets of people.”
He further shares his insight on the dominance of Sir/Madam especially in public sector. Gaurav agrees that bureaucrats structure still adhere to “Saheb” culture in public offices. However, I have noticed that the young officials who are well-educated and well-traveled seem to be letting go off this archaic tradition.
Most of the time, civil servants stick to ‘Sir/Madam mandate because of the obligation of people around them. This makes it difficult for them to maintain a salutation-free space, even when they want to.
An age-old mentality is not easy to change. Like the saying goes “Old habits die hard.” Therefore, Gaurav suggests implementing No Sir No Madam routine in the education system would make it easier for people to accept it. He ventures — We have the “Teacher” system in India rather than Mentorship system, wherein students blindly follow anything their teacher tells them to do.
Students do not even bother to clear their doubts thinking they will end up looking stupid. This happens mainly because students are scared of their teachers, which they should not be. No Sir No Madam policy can help in eradicating this fear and help to form a student-mentor relation rather than a student-teacher association.
He adds, “No Sir No Madam is a genius initiative which can gain popularity only by rigorous effort. Like every new idea, this ideology will also get a mixed reaction. Although if you believe in the cause, we need to be determined. As every change, instilling No Sir No Madam doctrine will also take time, however, someone needs to be the torch-bearer. I am ecstatic that someone is campaigning about this genial social-cause.
Gaurav concludes “Make friends and as everyone is blessed with a talent, eradicating a communication barrier will help open opportunities and build relationships longer period of time.”
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