Since he took office, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has often dispensed with a stiff greeting and reached out warmly to people he meets, including global leaders.
At the United Nations in New York today, PM Modi met US President Barack Obama and greeted him with a hug. This is the third time they've met in a year.
Yesterday, at the Townhall at Facebook's Menlo Park headquarters, PM Modi ditched the formal handshake and reached out with a warm hug for founder Mark Zuckerberg.
The hug was among the five "favourite moments" from PM Modi's visit that Mr Zuckerberg shared on Facebook. He captioned the photo - "a big hug" and got for it 33,722 likes, 730 shares, and comments from Indians like - "it's a hug from 1,25,0000000 people.......for you mr mark......we love you."
Earlier this year in January, PM Modi had posted a picture of him welcoming President Barack Obama to India. With a hug.
Mark Zuckerberg was among the lakhs who "liked" it.
Ahead of the G20 summit in Brisbane last year, Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott got a PM Modi hug at a barbecue he hosted at the state Parliament House. PM Modi had tweeted then "I feel my friendship with @TonyAbbottMHR will further strengthen India-Australia ties in the years to come."
Then there was the PM's four-day visit to Japan in September 2015. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, much admired by PM Modi, travelled specially to Kyoto to greet the Indian Prime Minister and the two leaders had hugged.
PM Modi also hugged
Wolverine. That is
X-Men star Hugh Jackman who introduced the PM at a peace concert at New York's central park on his US visit last year.