How 'Namaste' Flew Away from Us

> For a lot of us, it makes our skin crawl, our face burn and our heart do weird things.

> EVERY DAMN TIME I DRIVE BY THE YOGA STUDIO ON SUNSET THAT SAYS NAMASTE L.A. IT DRIVES ME BATTY.

These are not normal reactions. These people would probably benefit from professional help. And for their own mental health, they should avoid travelling to India because signs saying Namste, complete with a Anjali mudra icon are very common here.

> Today, among Hindi speakers throughout the world, namaste is a simple greeting to say hello.

Most Hindi speakers say Namaskar not Namaste. And that is ignoring more rustic greetings like Ram Ram.

> In South Asia, namaste is mostly heard in Hindi-speaking areas.

Namaste and Namaskar are used by Bengalis, Marathis, Telugus and Kannadigas with small variations in pronunciation. If you're going to whine about inaccurate generalisations, at the very least, don't make inaccurate generalisations yourself.

We should not worry about this... There are just too many words that have been used and mutated across cultures.

If we can make sure our generation/future generations in India preserve it, we should be good.

I assume next in this article series, NPR will pick some element of European culture that is not treated with sufficient reverence or authenticity by others, and expound how terribly this makes Europeans suffer.