WE will sign on the dotted line without ever reflecting on why we are signing a letter off by expressing our sincerity to known and unknown persons, to people whom we love to hate and people whom we will perhaps never meet. Does it make a difference? What if we signed saying, 'take care' or 'go tigers, go'? It would be more sincere in some ways.

 'Yours sincerely' came about because our learned ancestors knew we will someday lack all of it, and that day has long arrived. Consequently, to keep a semblance of our rich heritage ticking they devised a scheme that reminds us to be sincere every time we finish complaining, brooding, demanding and begging. The number of times a person signs off with the two most misunderstood pair of words is equal to his/her attempts to keep away from faithfulness. Yes, we also write 'faithfully yours.' Fortunately and paradoxically, no one is supposed to take our signed valediction seriously.

A newspaper, prior to marking its first anniversary several years ago honoured me, they did, asking over telephone (the roads were jammed) what was the one thing that was required in my opinion to alleviate us of our various problems. I do not know whether the brief interview was published in their celebratory issue, it must have been, but the answer was 'sincerity.'

In our existence as habitants of the most densely populated basin in the world, if ever we required genuineness, honesty, earnestness, authenticity, truthfulness, and forthrightness, it was four decades back. But, it is never too late.

Our teachers (including in business and profession) need to be sincere by preparing lectures through self-study, by pursuing formal and informal higher studies, by researching, by trying to understand the psyche of the students and apprentices. Yet, you will find some teachers (!) who are averse to any scheme that will make them deliver better education and training.

Some of us enrolled as students or employed as novices will do everything that epitomises studentship and employment except learn. We will sport trendy attires, we will befriend the roadside Mama for endless cups/glasses of tea, we will rebuke a stranger for being harsh on a rickshaw-puller, and we will partake in jompesh adda, but we will bring the books to class tomorrow, and maybe submit the report a week after it is due. Good grades and salaries are, however, our rights. Our sincere 'teachers' alone cannot build this nation. Our 'students' need to reciprocate, and sincerely so.

Sincerity is relevant in any sphere. For instance, our builders (here buildings) need to abide by applicable codes, apply technology and use materials appropriately, and fulfil their commitment to their client, whom they cajoled by charm and wheedled by wheeling and dealing. We cannot build a nation on a foundation of deceit.

The health sector remains questionable for untold sufferings meted out to patients by some ruthless practitioners. Yes, there are stories of dedication and wisdom by some medical practitioners, including nurses and attendants, but some of our doctors will have failed the Hippocratic Oath, if not always, at least several times in their career. They are simply not performing in their chosen profession. The number one complaint against some doctors: they do not give adequate time and a patient hearing to a patient. As an example of malpractice, there is strong belief that the reason for the rise in the number of birth by Caesarean section is not purely medical. The less said about boundless tests, the more will diagnostic centres flourish.

The lawyers for years now are divided along the line of party politics, and therefore it is near-impossible for those involved publicly to deliver their service sincerely as per their professional ethics and understanding. A nation cannot survive, let alone thrive, if the people serving in the profession are not wholly sincere, fully committed and above partisan politics.

On that count, teachers, engineers, diploma engineers, doctors, bankers, journalists and a host of other professionals are at loggerheads with their opposite number (at least in the public eye) on the basis of their respective political beliefs. In order to appease the supremo and ghetus in the party hierarchy, they cannot deliver an opinion or service otherwise. A nation is being crippled for centuries for the insincerity of some in the intelligentsia. Pssst! It is our nation, not the one in Timbuktu.

The restauranteur needs to be clean especially when no one is watching. Some of our on-the-outside spick and span diners, eateries and cafes have the filthiest havens for cockroaches. Street food should be covered and served with gloved hands, and that gloved finger should never be used for nose-picking or other such deep purposes.

How many of you have honked ten times or knocked on the gate twenty times before the night guard indicated he was alive? Most night guards forget that they need to hit the bed at daytime. But, it is not unusual to see them employed under the sun. It is obviously due to economic hardship, and here the sincerity of the employer, often a building owners' association, comes to play. Any low-paid guy will have to catch up on lost sleep.

There is a need to practice 'sincerely yours' (US) in every aspect of our life. The tailor needs to give a date three weeks beyond the date he is estimating he will finish sewing the blouse. An employee should not report more than one pregnancy of his wife in a year. His grandmother will die only once and he ought to remember that when he is applying again for extra-ordinary leave within two months.

Vendors should sell in right measures. Retailers should not display out-of-date foodstuff. Fruiterers should not bathe produces in formalin, and such people should be charged with murder. Then again, buyers should not conceal a torn note between some good ones.

Industrialists and businesspeople expect blue-ribbon service in their factories and offices from their workers and employees, yet they will dither and delay over their monthly salary, overtime and bonuses. Sincerity of the employer would have been evident if during protests for adequate and timely payment, he/she was not flying off to a holiday resort after a stressful week in town. The unpaid-for-months poor have stress issues too.

The list is unending, but the fact is the solution to a bulk of our problems lie in embracing the two words in thought, word and deed. You got it, yours and sincerely.

The author is a practising Architect at BashaBari Ltd., a Scout Leader and a Rotarian. 
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