On Shaking Hands is an Essay written by English journalist and writer, A.G Gardiner. The central theme of Essay “On Shaking Hands” is courtesy, alter and perception.
On Shaking Hands By A.G Gardiner
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Summary of On Shaking Hands By A.G Gardiner
Shaking hands is a custom in foreign countries which no one can criticize because shaking hands means that you are greeting someone. Shaking hands is an innocent act but nowadays people criticize it because they believe that shaking hands with someone is unhealthy.
Shaking hands is a popular tradition which no one can end no matter how many people criticize it. Shaking hands is a tradition that is settled in our soul which means that we people are very habituated to shaking hands. There are many people in the world who do not shake hands, like Indian people greet by joining hands, Chinese people greet by shaking hands and Japanese people greet by bowing their head.
There are different cultures and styles of greeting people but shaking hands is our habit and people all over the world shake hands to greet. The author says that the way people in the West greet by shaking hands, their greeting looks real whereas Indian and Japanese greetings do not look real due to their different styles. The author says that we do not do bias and discrimination while greeting, even in the west there is no ban on kissing as it is a way of greeting.
In western countries kissing for greeting is normal whereas Japanese people believe that kissing someone is an intimate act. However, people of England do not like man to man kissing but they shake hands to greet someone as it is in their habit. It is the culture of the people of England to hold each other’s hand tightly while greeting and if you are not holding hands tightly then it means you are disrespecting.
The author does not support the practice of shaking hands in everything as he knows that it has many disadvantages too. Like sometimes we have to shake hands with unclean hands, thin hands and wet hands. But by shaking hands we can know a lot about the other person like we can know about the status of the person and we can know about his intentions. We can also know about the intentions of people by shaking hands.
There is a publisher named Pekar who shakes hands with people as if he wants to shake his hand away. But this is not the right way to shake hands. We should always shake hands with each other, just like we should shake hands with people who are interested in shaking hands with you. The author believes that shaking hands is a tradition that will never end because it is the best way of greeting in the world.
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