The Hindu : Opinion / News Analysis : Corrections and clarifications

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Apr 18, 2006

Opinion

Opinion - News Analysis

Corrections and clarifications

A number of readers have pointed out that "namazis" do not clean themselves after prayers (namaz); rather they do so before offering prayers in mosques, a ritual known as wazu (ablution). In this ceremonial washing, the hands, arms, face and feet are washed. The objective is to become physically clean before commencing prayers. The sentence in "Twin blasts inside Delhi's Jama Masjid, 14 persons injured" (April 15, 2006, page 1) said: "According to eyewitnesses, the first explosion took place at 5.20 p.m., soon after the `namazis' approached a tank situated at the centre of the mosque to clean themselves after offering prayers."

In the interview with DMK president M. Karunanidhi ("Assembly Elections 2006 — We keep the promises we make", April 13, 2006), the text said Rajaji (C.R. Rajagopalachari). A reader says though it is understood who Rajaji is, the additional clarification is still incorrect. It is C. Rajagopalachari (Chakravarti Rajagopalachari) and not C.R. Rajagopalachari.

The sentence "Ghani Khan, admitted hospitalised on April 3 with severe abdominal pain, was suffering from acute pancreatitis" ("Ghani Khan's death leaves a void in politics", April 15, 2006), baffled some readers. "Admitted" is superfluous and was an editing error.

The heading was "Worst-ever violence witnessed in Bangalore in the past ten years" (April 14, 2006). (It was a report on the violence that rocked Bangalore after the passing away of veteran Kannada actor Rajkumar.) The text said "worst", which is right. In terms of the degree of violence, "worst" is the most serious that could happen.

What is blagging? Is it bragging, asks a reader. The sentence in The Guardian report was: "The army has constantly said my son is blagging." (Op-Ed, "Jailing Iraq veteran puts focus on combat stress", April 12, 2006). The Oxford Dictionary says "the word blag is of late 19th Century origin, perhaps from the French blaguer which is to `tell lies'." "Blag" is either "a violent robbery or raid" or "an act of using clever talk or lying to obtain something".

It was off the target in the results of the penultimate day of the fourth Sardar Sajjan Singh Sethi Masters memorial shooting championship at Jalandhar. In "Golden double for Samaresh" ("Sport", April 14, 2006), CISF shooter Sonia Rana claimed the gold in the 10 metres pistol event for women (not 100 metres pistol for women), while Olympian Deepali Deshpande won the gold medal in the 50 metres rifle for women (not 50 m free pistol for women, as the UNI report said).

There was a mix up of paragraphs in "Roddick advances, Blake falls" ("Sport", April 13, 2006). Marat Safin was in fact playing in the ATP Open Comunidad Valenciana event. His match details were published along with the results of the U.S. clay court championship event at Houston in the April 13 Chennai edition.

It is the policy of The Hindu to correct significant errors as soon as possible. Please specify the edition (place of publication), date and page.

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