Namaste is the new "Hello!"

The bear hug in which the Prime Minister loves to smother Western VIPs might strike as theatrical, boastful and, above all, unhygienic, in these stricken times

One aspect of the COVID-19 crisis would have gladdened the heart of Murli Manohar Joshi, the veteran Bharatiya Janata Party politician, now, alas, sidelined by Narendra Modi. Mr Joshi would have delighted in the prospect of the return of the namaste.

Addressing the Indian Chamber of Commerce in Kolkata, he once lamented that today’s young Indian thinks it smart to raise one hand and bawl out “Hi!” instead of folding both palms in a gracious and graceful gesture that observed social distance before the phrase was invented. If any thought of pollution through physical contact crossed Mr Joshi’s Brahminical thinking, he