Indian greeting 'Namaste' is now global: Macron and Merkel's pleasantries go viral

More people, especially world leaders, are opting for the Indian greeting of Namaste rather than going for a handshake -- in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.

The latest addition to the list of leaders who perused this no-contact way of greeting are France President Emmanuel Macron and Chancellor of Germany Angela Merkel. The two European Union leaders met on Thursday to discuss travel restrictions related to the coronavirus.

Worried that shaking hands, hugging and kissing on the cheek -- an archetypal European way of greeting each other -- might help spread the virus, Macron and Merkel folded hands in Namaste and bent a little to exchange pleasantries.

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The video of them adopting the Indian style of greeting has gone viral.

Namaste is Global !

📸:When Emmanuel Macron, President of France and Angela Merkel, Chancellor of Germany greet each other with Namastepic.twitter.com/jHUhW2CfPY — All India Radio News (@airnewsalerts) August 20, 2020

Macron is not new to this though. He folded his palms in the traditional Indian manner and bowed slightly while greeting Spain’s King Felipe and Queen Letizia at the Elysee Palace in Paris in early March.

The French ambassador to New Delhi, Emmanuel Lenain, had then tweeted, “President Macron has decided to greet all his counterparts with a namaste, a graceful gesture that he has retained from his India visit in 2018.”

"Namaste,” a combination of two Sanskrit words, translates into “bowing to you” and does not involve skin contact and allows people to maintain a distance.

In recent days, images of US President Donald Trump and Prince Charles opting to use the Indian greeting over a handshake have also gone viral.

When Trump was asked by reporters, in March, 2020, how he greeted the Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar during their meeting in Washington, both leaders put their hands together to demonstrate what they did.

"I just got back from India. And I did not shake any hands there, and it was very easy because they go like this and Japan goes like this,” Trump said doing a quick demonstration of the Indian namaste and the Japanese ojigi -- bowing.

"They are ahead of the curve,” he said.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also advocated the Indian-style greeting to his country and went on to demonstrate it by folding his hands at a press conference early this year.

Historians are of the opinion that ‘namaste’ might have become familiar in the West thanks to yoga, originating in India but practised by millions all over. It certainly, however, gained a surge in popularity in 2020, all thanks to the pandemic.

In recent times, Prime Minister Narendra Modi reminded the country of the benefits of sticking to the traditional greeting.