Apropos of the news story “Sandeya Lisah now in English” (THT, February 20, Page 2), the news is silent on Dharma Ratna Yami’s tenure as a minister in the government of Shah King following the ouster of the Ranas.

It is clearly a deliberate attempt to tell the truth half of Yami and cloud his association with the Panchayat while promoting him as a businessman and a revolutionary against the Ranas. While talking about Yami, we should also refresh our modern history quiz and remember an indigenous Newar minister, Prayag Raj Singh Suwal, who must be the first minister of a local Janjati ethnicity to be bombed by the extremists. Even as a minister, Suwal, whose son was a classmate, lived in his old, decrepit tenement at Jhonche.

A revisit to the post-Rana Nepali history is a must to put the historical facts in proper and truthful perspectives including the struggle of the Valley Newars and the contribution of the two illustrious Shah Kings for Nepal’s prosperity. The contribution and role of Newar women must also be recognised.

Manohar Shrestha, Kathmandu

Prank

This is with reference to the article “Prank culture” (THT, February 19, Page 8). I totally agree with what the writer actually accentuates in the piece.

It is true that there are many people who are pulling a prank on random people. I can clearly say that the example that the writer cited in the article is the sort of prank that will not only petrify the public but largely be detrimental to the people’s health. The horrible prank should not be pulled on random people because you never know the ramifications if you happened to play such tricks on people who have some kinds of ailments.

From the health point of view this is very severe. We can make harmless jokes in order to laugh and become healthy. The scary prank should not be in place. This is totally a public disorderly behaviour.

Shiva Neupane, Melbourne

Mother tongue

Extinction of hundreds of languages indicates the disappearance of diversity from the face of the earth. With the loss of languages, we lose entire societies, their culture and a storehouse of indigenous wisdom.

The social scientists and concerned authorities should rise to the occasion to rescue dying languages and cultures to keep heterogeneity and spirit of “equality of all languages” alive; else it will not reflect the concerned country in a glorifying light. The mother tongue remains the most basic identity of an individual or a community.

If it does not get its due place under the sun, then the community which speaks it is bound to meet its doom. Just as a child cannot be detached from his/her mother, it would be nothing but a crime if any community gets robbed of its mother tongue just because it does not enjoy any political advantage and influence.

Kajal Chatterjee, Kolkata