The Hindu : Opinion / News Analysis : Corrections and clarifications

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Friday, Sep 01, 2006

Opinion

Opinion - News Analysis

Corrections and clarifications

* A reader wondered who Dr. D.S. Kotnis was. The report "Hu Jintao to visit India in November" (August 31, 2006), which was on the occasion of the release of the book "My Life with Kotnis", did not indicate who he [Kotnis] was. No single Indian did more to bridge Indo-Chinese relations than Dr. Dwarkanath Shantaram Kotnis, a doctor from the southern Maharashtra city of Solapur. In 1938, Dr. Kotnis joined a medical mission sent by the Indian National Congress to help the Chinese army during the War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression (1937-45). He married a Chinese woman, Guo Qinglan. Of the five doctors (M. Atal, M. Cholkar, Kotnis, B.K. Basu and D. Mukerji), all, except Dr Kotnis, returned to India. Kotnis was appointed director of the Dr. Bethune International Peace Hospital, but a short illness ended his life in 1942. Dr. Kotnis became an icon in China. He was memorialised in the 1946 Shantaram movie "Dr. Kotnis ki Amar Kahani". China too had its own dedication to Dr. Kotnis in the 1982 movie "Dr D.S. Kotnis". There was also a best-selling biography/novel by K.A. Abbas, "And One Did Not Come Back" (1945). In 1982, China released two stamps on the 40th anniversary of the doctor's death, and then again in 1992 on the 50th anniversary. In the northern Chinese province of Hebei, in Shijiazhuang city, a famous attraction is the Martyr's Memorial park. The north and south sides of the park are dedicated to the veterans of the Korean and the Japanese wars. The west side is dedicated to Norman Bethune, a Canadian who fought with the Chinese, and the south side to Dr. Kotnis.

* Referring to the AP report "Guenter Grass opens up on Hitler connection" ("Newscape", August 13, 2006), a reader says that there were articles and an editorial in The Hindu where Grass' name was spelt as both "Guenter" and "Gunter". Is it not the standard practice that the German Umlaut in vowels is indicated by adding "e" after the vowels (ae, oe, ue), asks the reader. Dr. Gabriele Landwehr, Director/Institutsleiterin, Max Mueller Bhavan, Goethe-Institut Chennai, clarifies that the reader is right.

* The word is "weltschmerz" (= "mental depression"), and not "weltshmerz", says another reader with reference to the article "Spellbound" (The Hindu-Magazine, August 27, 2006, page 4). Dr. Gabriele Landwehr clarifies that the reader is right. She also points out that in the same article, the word "urspache" needs to read as "Ursprache". The term is used for languages such as Sanskrit from which other languages derived, she adds.

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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