What’s In A Greeting?

I AM AN INDIAN and I am  from South Africa, a country with diverse customs and cultures.  Unfortunately I don’t know the custom of every culture. But I can tell you one thing about all Indian people and it is that greeting is a very big thing for us. In fact some say that greetings are a salutation to God for them. Indians greet each other with “Namaste, Namaskar, Assalamu Alaikum, Vannakkam” or “Satsrikal.” This greeting is for all - people younger than us, of our own age, those older than us, friends, and even strangers! It is a general salutation that is used to welcome somebody and also for bidding farewell. It has a spiritual significance of negating or reducing one’s ego in the presence of another.