Sir and surname

i’ve noticed this reluctance among north indians a generation or half a generation older than me to give their first names. wonder why. so you have people introducing themselves as “R K Sharma” or even better “Mrs. R K Sharma” where R and K are the initials of the husband of the lady in question!

then, the other day i sent a mail to someone from my client (let’s call him Albert Pinto).

Dear Albert,
PFA some data. Can you do this work for me?

Regards,
Karthik

And our man replies (he’s at least 20 years older than me)

Dear Sir,
please blah blah kindly blah blah blah blah blah.

Regards,
A.S. Pinto

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