What is politeness? It is a kind of politics. The three words, policy, politeness and politics, have the same root, they all mean the same thing. But you think politeness is a nice quality. You would not think of it as politics, but it is. To be polite is a defence measure.
In Europe you shake hands. Why do you shake the right hand and not the left? It is really politics. To shake hands is nothing friendly. It is just a gesture: ‘My right hand is empty, so don’t be worried. And let me see that your right hand is empty too; it doesn’t have a knife.’ It is a way of giving certainty to each other that you are not going to harm him.
In India, you greet with both hands, but that too is just showing that both hands are empty. It is far better than shaking hands, because who knows about the left hand? Our culture and religions teach us to be hypocrites in such subtle ways that unless you go deep in search, you will never find out what you have been doing.
