Edits, corrections, changes, revisions...

Anyone not appreciating the immense value that the capability to edit a line, even a word, holds for social media users, behold the 'corrections' made by the White House to the fact sheet on 'key terms' in the 'historic' 'framework for an interim agreement regarding reciprocal and mutually beneficial trade'. The words 'certain pulses' have been deleted, and 'committed' has been replaced by 'intends'. The revised wording has already made Indians with a linguistic bent of mind break open the bubbly - sorry, change that to 'nimbu paani'. For, as every person who has never seen a vegetable patch knows, 'pulses' are code for everything that is India's agricultural sector, which, in turn, is code for India itself. The 'certain' before 'pulses' hardly helped - lobbies representing chana, arhar, moong, urad, masoor, rajma and lobia were getting ready to storm the American embassy like in the good old days. And committing to something is hardly the same as intending something, especially if no such commitment had been made. So, that tweak was quickly made.

Now, imagine if the errant fact sheet was amenable to being quietly edited and (re-)released. Hardly anyone notices such edits on social media, and even fewer follow editing track changes. That would have been swell. Meanwhile, be ready for DC to make more corrections along the negotiatory way.