So, not to be outdone, in the weeks that followed, American scientists dug 200 metres and headlines in the US papers read:

"US scientists have found traces of 2000 year old optical fibres, and have concluded that their ancestors already had advanced high-tech digital telephone 1000 years earlier than the Russians."

One week later, the Indian newspapers reported the following:

"After digging as deep as 500 metres, Indian scientists have found absolutely nothing. They have concluded that 5000 years ago, their ancestors were already using wireless technology .