Sulagna Kapoor, Co-founder of GoPursu strongly supports No Sir No Madam Cause. GoPursu, established in 2018, is a brand of super collection of ladies handbags and clutches. These products are exclusively designed and highly acclaimed for their superior quality, fascinating colors, trendy, and latest designs.
Sulagna has over 15 years of domestic and international experience in business development, garment manufacturing, and operations. Alongwith her sister, she wanted to decrease the disparity in terms of the luxury products that people with only deep pockets could afford.
GoPursu is the brain-child of 2-sisters and dedicated towards women empowerment. Therefore, the company has only women employees.
She voices “I stayed in Mumbai for more than 15 years and noticed a very straight-forward culture there. I worked with different organizations and there was no salutation mandate there. However, the past six years have been distinct, after moving to Delhi, what I have noticed is people get some sort of ego boost out of being addressed with a salutation.”
She continues — I do not understand why it is so demeaning to be addressed by your name. Your parents gave you a name for a reason. Your name is what people identify you with. I believe the root cause of this the practices followed in various corporate companies where ‘Sir/Madam’ tradition is practiced strictly.
I once worked for a person who would demand his employees to address him as ‘Shree respected Sir’. He would use people as doormat and his temper would be always through the roof. Therefore, I could not work with him for more than two months. I think being addressed as ‘Sir/Madam’ empowers people to be rude towards other and gives them a god complex.
Sulagna states “I ensure to follow a salutation-free custom at my workplace. It is easier for me to connect with my employees on a first-name basis as we are an all-woman team. Moreover, your employees can share their opinion and ideas when they feel at par with you.
This is important for an organization as it allows for the best idea to be on the table which can be implemented for the growth within the company.”
Every Indian is aware of the salutation compulsion; one has to follow, when they are dealing with a government official. Sulagna shares — There is no choice when interacting with government officials. However, I have had instances where I have socialized with IPS and IAS officers. They would be absolutely fine with communicating on a first-name basis.
Although, you’d see them emphasizing on ‘Sir/Madam’ custom in their office, which is sort of double standard. Bureaucrats feel obliged to carry-on these centuries old tradition of ‘Sir/Madam’, which is completely a façade.”
Moreover, eradicating ‘Sir/Madam’ custom from government offices would also help in lowering corruption. As addressing someone on a first-name basis, is basically a confidence-building exercise. People would be more aware about their rights and would not have to adhere to anything the official demands them to do, adds Sulagna.
Many Indians are egoistic of our privilege and do not sympathize with the struggle of people less-fortunate than us. You can see people discriminating towards blue-collar workers. However, Sulagna has an interesting lesson to share, which we should be inspired from.
She conveys — in my husband’s family, there is a house-help lady who has been with them for over 42 years. We interact on a first-name basis; she sits on the same table with us to have food and the family also takes her with them whenever they are traveling, be it domestic or abroad. Even with my babysitter, I ensure to treat her as an equal.
If I am going out somewhere, she gets to order food for herself when I do. If I am going someplace to socialize, I also take her with me. I believe that if I am giving her the responsibility of taking care of my baby, she has to be equally important and respected as me.
In India, where people treat less-fortunate people as slaves, Sulagna is someone we all should be inspired from. She ventures “however, people have realized their moronic behavior, and you can see them now changing their behavior towards less-privileged people.
She suggests the private-sector companies to instill No Sir No Madam tradition in their offices as that will set a chain-reaction. There will be more people who understand the importance of No Sir No Madam ideology, and it will be easier to uproot an archaic culture.
In conclusion, Sulagna quotes “Respect the fact that your parents gave you a name. Your name defines you. Your designation will not be with you forever; however, your name will.”
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