Hello Money!

Children tend to be the most direct members of any society; in their innocence, they sometimes directly state unacknowledged but fundamental truths. As a white person roaming the streets of India, we were constantly hailed with cries off "Hello!", generally followed by a one-word summary of the business they hope to transact, resulting in "Hello boat!", "Hello massage!", "Hello hashish!", and so on. The children, with nothing to offer but their tragic faces and outstretched hands, cut out the commerce part and go right for the essential, exposing the fact that foreigners are generally seen as walking, breathing ATM machines.

Thus: "Hello Money!"

Endless entertainment ensues. We try out this new exclamation on each other as comic relief in tense situations; confronted by a squad of particularly sleek boys employing this greeting began to laugh, run about, and shriek in joy as I thrust my own giant arm at them, repeating Hello, Money! and lightly poking unimpressed ones in the belly until they "got it" and ran just out of reach, their own trade transformed into a bizarre contact sport.