Hello, High-five and Hallelujah!
Vengrai Parthasarathy
Life is one long saga of meet, greet and eat. The greet part, to show fellow feeling, has undergone a good deal of dramatic changes. In India, we say Namaste or Namaskar and if you are from the south , you add an ‘am’ to it and make it Namaskaram. A pretty simple and commonplace greeting, because there is no physical contact, only one’s palms are pressed together at the chest level. And you don’t run the risk of cold or skin infection by contact.
Among orthodox Brahmins ( now a vanishing species), youngsters used to introduce themselves with ‘Abhivadhayae’–
Translation: I am saluting, having three pravara rishis Vishamitra, Aghamarshana and Kaushika, of Kaushika Gotra, following the rules or manual of Apasthambha, learning the branch of Veda called Yajur. I am Venkatesh Sharma by name. Your Honour.
i.e., giving name, father’s name, gothra etc). This complicated form of introducing
one’s self is now almost dead.
In English, Hello! Is the usual hail-word, the heartiness of it depending on your mood and your closeness to the person greeted. The greeter keeps his option open whether to follow up the Hello with a shake of hands or a slap on the back or holding of both hands.
The British say ‘How d’you do’ and shake hands. In answer one does not say: I am fine or great or okay or, (if you are a hypochondriac) ‘ I have a rumbling tummy’ or’ splitting head ache’ or ‘nagging wife’ or whatever. Paradoxically, your reply also has to be a ditto ‘Howdyou do?’. In Western films this is abbreviated to ‘Howdy”.
The Americans are rather demonstrative, seeing the ‘high-fives’ that they unleash , day in and day out. The high-five is a celebratory gesture, with two people slapping the raised palms of each other This physical demonstration is done at the drop of a hat. It has come to stay and has spread like plague all over the world. You see it on the Basket Ball court, in the Cricket field and even at the dining table when a few people assemble and discuss sports or politics. The message conveyed by it is ’Well-said, ‘Cool, man’ ‘ a point well-made or ‘a goal scored’ or some such silly, earth-shaking event! Now, this has become a global affliction.See our Indian Cricketers and ladies participating in TV shows do the high-five.
In China, one is greeted with a deep bow and a ni hao whatever that may mean. As a show of humility it is a highly laudable gesture. Imagine our politicians, most of them fat and dumpy, doing this on the campaign trail!
The handshake is what British people customarily do when meeting someone. Of course the handshakes are of different intensities. Some do it as if they are trying to wrench your arm out of the shoulder joints, while other people hug and sometimes kiss the cheek (usually of women). Often, a greeting goes beyond a handshake. Somewhere I read that the Egyptians are feisty greeters and keep shaking the hand at least three times. The French are great kissers but they limit greeting just to raising a hat. Who wears hats these days, anyway.
Have you seen the candidates for Presidency in USA shaking hands, literally with hundreds of thousands as they go round campaigning all over America? I have read reports that they are obliged to have hot water fomentation for this cousin of the Carpel syndrome, with which computer operatives are familiar.
Michelle Obama, the wife of Barack, introduced a new form of greeting which goes by the name of ‘fist bump’. You clench your fist and give a slight bump on the fist of the person you greet. This seems to be a substitute for a handshake and puts less strain on the fingers. But this is rather personal and not suitable for greeting huge crowds.
There were reports that Cindy McCain, wife of the Presidential candidate, was hospitalized with a twisted wrist caused by an exuberant supporter while she was on her hand-shake duties, as wife of the candidate. This was not the first time but is likely to be the last because John McCain is rather old to go for hectic Election campaigns all over again..
Hallelujah! Is a Xian greeting, and like Namaskar, is just a vocal. What does it convey? It is an exclamation of praise to God and is on the side of a religious acclamation and not a person to person greeting.