Friendship is a bumpy ride Sir ? Should we call it ?bullock cart diplomacy?? In a show of bonhomie during the Khajuraho millennium, two hardened political rivals have shown they can share a bumpy cart ride if it is for ?culture?s? sake (?Bullock cart bond at Khajuraho?, March 8). Similarly, Atal Behari Vajpayee had made the common cultural bond with a hostile neighbour the unique selling proposition for launching the Delhi-Lahore bus service, while smiling faces of politicians on television sparkled in the living rooms of millions of people. The problem is that such beaming smiles don?t last long. Uma Bharti hit the nail on the head when she said that ?politics divides?, and politics is all politicians have. That ?culture unites? ? Bharti again ? is secondary. Look at the sour points in the mushy get togethers. Nawaz Sharif flatly refused to use Indian buses for the bus service. And despite all his love for Khajuraho, Digvijay Singh still believes the monuments are entirely the headache of the Archaeological Survey of India. No brownie points for Bharti there. Yours faithfully, M. Sen Sharma, Calcutta Truths uncovered Sir ? Two news reports on the same theme published recently in The Telegraph reveal the media?s attitude to a very sensitive issue. On February 6, the front page carried the headline, ?Nun gangraped by men in sari in Orissa?. On February 16, page 9 carried another, ?Two girls raped in Tripura temple?. What happened in both cases was that the honour of women was violated. In the first instance, this was perceived as being a grave enough offence to require a touch of religion in the headline, hence the mention that the victim was a nun. But if this served to enhance the incident?s gravity ? or is it publicity? ? the same principle was not adhered to in the second instance. Had it been followed, the headline would have read, ?Hindu priest?s daughter and niece gangraped inside temple?. For the sake of consistency, the second news report should also have been published on page one. Perhaps the incident involving the nun occurred soon after ? and in the same state as ? the Manoharpur murders, thereby providing an opportunity for sensationalizing the issue. Or is a nun in some way more important than two tribal girls? Interestingly, the rape of the nun got substantial coverage in the British Broadcasting Corporation prime slot. Maybe Naradpara in Tripura is far too insignificant to find place on page one. Or perhaps The Telegraph is indulging in protective discrimination with regard to certain communities? Medical tests have reportedly produced no conclusive evidence that the nun was actually raped. By the way, none of the headlines on the Anjana Mishra case announced that a Hindu woman was gangraped near Bhubaneswar. When reports on road mishaps are carried, do newspapers have headlines like, say, ?Hindu driver runs over Muslim pedestrians?? Are communal identities given much importance in the numerous news reports involving crimes of various sorts? The lay reader gathers an impression about an incident by going through newspaper reports. Headlines play a major role in this respect. The press should realize it is responsible for popular attitudes that are formed with regard to various incidents. Certain principles should be consistently followed in the selection and projection of news. Yours faithfully, Himansu Ch. Sadangi, Baripada Sir ? The contents of the report, ?Nun gangraped by men in sari in Orissa? (Feb 6) implied the sangh parivar was involved in perpetrating the crime. The Communist Party of India general secretary, A.B. Bardhan, was quoted as having said that the forces let loose by the sangh parivar are ruining the country and its prestige. The disguise of the rapist and his accomplice was taken to be an indicator that the assault was pre-planned. It was also alleged that the rape was committed to intimidate Christians. But what evidence is there about the rape? Medical reports have been unable to provide any foolproof evidence of intercourse. Eyewitnesses are reported to have said that the nun boarded a bus at Baripada and not a taxi as she had claimed. It is easy to bash the saffron regime simply because they champion the interests of the majority community. Yours faithfully, R.H. Putran, Calcutta Sir ? The media?s unflinching support for the minorities has been evident for quite some time, particularly in the context of the recent controversies regarding Christians and the sangh parivar. This includes both television and the press. It is unfortunate that when two Hindu girls related to a temple priest were raped in Tripura no TV channels or English dailies gave any importance to its coverage. Further, the press has no harsh words for the nun who spread a malicious story about being raped by men belonging to the saffron regime when medical reports did not confirm her allegation. The news of the nun?s ?gangrape? made front page headlines, but the subsequent information coming from the medical report did not get the same degree of coverage. Does secularism mean the majority of Hindus are destined to be defamed byt he minorities and the ?enlightened? media? One suspects a conspiracy against Hindus by pseudosecularists who cover up their own lapses by making a scapegoat of the Bajrang Dal. Yours faithfully, Nitin Hoskote, Mumbai There?s a bug in here Sir ? ?Missiles free of Y2K, says ministry? (Feb 18) and ?Banks defaulting on Y2K face tighter capital norms? (Feb 10) talk about the steps being taken in India to tackle the Y2K problem which presents a formidable challenge to computer systems around the world. Since earlier computers were expensive, in order to economize on computer memory two digits were used to represent the year on the assumption that the first two digits would always be 19. Hence January 1, 1999, was, on the computer, 01.01.99. Unless corrected, this shortcut will lead to problems on January 1, 2000 as many computers may recognize the date as January 1, 1900 and process data incorrectly or stop functioning altogether. Hence, computers need to be made Y2K compliant before April 1, 1999, the first day of the financial year 1999-2000. Automated systems with embedded computer chips like medical pacemakers, household appliances, lifts, safes and vaults are potentially at risk from the millennium bug. However, it is mainly a software problem, and has to be solved by software engineers. The failure to do so in time may lead to operational problems in financial institutions, disrupting markets. Y2K may not be as big a problem in India as in many countries of the world, but it is surely one that needs to be addressed immediately. Yours faithfully, B.C. Dutta, Calcutta Sir ? There are reports that on January 1, 2000, data in computers will have to be entered afresh because most computer software recognize only two of the four digits of a year. Concerned international authorities should devise a systematic measurement of time and also a proper calendar system from January 1, 2000. A day could be divided into 10 metric hours instead of the present 24. Each metric hour could have 100 metric minutes and every such minute 100 metric seconds. Thus the day would be made up of 100,000 seconds instead of 86,400 as at present. The proposed metric second would be of slightly lesser duration than the present second. Likewise, the present system of months with varying numbers of days and that of the same dates in different months falling on different days of the week must be regularized. For instance, all 12 months of the year could have 30 days divided into five weeks, each of six days duration. However, December would have six weeks. The last week in non-leap years could have just five days. It would be even better if the year were to start from a day of significance, say the winter solstice. Yours faithfully, Abhinav Adtya, Delhi Letters to the editor should be sent to: The Telegraph 6 Prafulla Sarkar Street Calcutta 700 001 Email: the_telegraph_india @newscom.com Fax: 225 3240/41