Meet and greet

The ticklish protocols of exchanging ‘Hellos, Namastes and Salaams’ with unknown people

Had Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, lived in contemporary Lulea, a Swedish town of some 80,000 residents remotely located about 150km from the Arctic Circle, he might well have amended his soliloquy to “‘Hi, or not to Hi’; that is the question.”

To counter the chronic glumness of the town’s inhabitants, reportedly caused by SAD, Seasonal Affective Disorder, occasioned by their perennially frigid climate, the civic authorities have launched a media campaign encouraging people to greet passers-by with a friendly ‘Hello’ or ‘Hi’ as this can help create “social bonds, and have a positive impact on health, safety and wellbeing”.

(Image credit: Lexica Art)

Lulea is an exception to most other parts of the so-called Western world, which includes Australia and New Zealand, in that the exchange of such salutations between strangers is the norm.

The French say ‘Bonjour’, the Italians ‘Buongiorno’, the Germans ‘Guten tag’, the Brits ‘Cheers, mate’, the Americans ‘Hi’, and Noo Yawkers from the Bronx ‘Yo, bro, how’re they hangin’?’

But, like Luleans, Indians by and large have a problem acknowledging the existence of their fellow beings whom they don’t know. Rarely, if ever, will two strangers in passing greet each other with a ‘Namaste’ or a ‘Salaam’, in a spirit of mutual good fellowship. Unlike the citizens of Lulea, the Indian reluctance to exchange greetings is based not on SAD but on CAD, which stands not for Current Account Deficit, but for Class/Caste Associated Distinction. India is possibly one of the most class/caste-conscious societies, and this is reflected in our disinclination to spontaneously greet people we don’t know.

The unwritten protocol that governs CAD determines that the person of lower/junior status initiate the exchange of greetings to which the person of higher/senior status will then respond.

The younger person greets the elder; the munimji greets the sethji; the sales rep greets the sales manager.

In our rigidly stratified social milieu, a witting or unwitting reversal of this role runs the risk of exposing the rule-breaker as one who is out of the swim of things and is best left Hi and dry.

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