Namaskar

Whenever I head over to my friend Roop's house, I always have to go through this one part of town that's slightly annoying. Mostly because of the children. Now, don't get me wrong, I love kids, but the whole way through it's one rupee, one school pen, one rupee, one school pen. Well, actually they've upgraded, now it's ten rupee, one school pen, ten rupee, one school pen. I guess inflation has hit the children the hardest.

This time when I was passing through as usual the children were screaming 'hello! hello! hello!' and I responded with the usual 'namaste' but there was this group of quiet children just singing to themselves and one said 'hello' and I replied 'namaste' but then she replied with 'Namaskar' which is the respectful way of addressing someone. I use 'namaskar' for older people, women sometimes and any sadus or religious men I come across. It's just funny how simple little things like that make a difference.

There are times when I greet an old man with Namaskar and I can tell he notices it. Then when I practice some of my Hindi he really appreciates my effort. I don't think many tourists that come to India bother with the language, because every time I say just a few words everyone is impressed. It gives me a little more respect then they might otherwise give me.