Dinesh Wagle, 29, a writer at the popular Nepali-language Kantipur newspaper started blogging in October 2004.
KATHMANDU: Dinesh Wagle, 27, a writer at the popular Nepali-language Kantipur newspaper started blogging in October 2004. Aided by his writer-friend, Ujwal Acharya, 28, he registered the website
www.blog.com.np
During the 15-month-long autocratic rule of King Gyanendra that ended last April, the site was considered a “huge hit” among Nepalese worldwide and their friends to get fresh news and information on Nepal. Then, they put down the “fresh and the latest” about the happenings for “news and information” hungry Nepalese.
Today, with peace and democracy together in place, Wagle maintains his diaries on the site. “We are Nepal’s first bloggers,” Wagle proudly asserts as he browses the net in his small cubicle. “Last week, I wrote about a concert I attended. Tonight, I might write about blogging culture.”
Riding the boom in information technology revolution that’s already sweeping Nepal’s giant neighbours like India and China, more and more Nepali youngsters are quietly exploring a new way to express themselves on the Internet. First experimented by some American writers after the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003, blogging has become popular amongst aspiring Nepali writers.
So much so that the Kantipur newspaper’s editorial section alone has more than 15 writers who are maintaining their person blogs on the net. Wagle estimates the total number of Nepali blogsites at around 100. “From what I understand, most of these sites are maintained in Nepal itself. Only a few sites are maintained by Nepalese living abroad.”
And boys or men are not the only ones who are maintaining their own blogsites. “It’s equally popular amongst girls and women too,” says Rosha Basnet, a young blogger. “I know more than a dozen girls or women who are blogging regularly.” Increasingly, say mediawatchers here, Nepali women too are devoting some of their time everyday or night on the net to put down their perspectives about certain topical events or their personal lives.
But the credit must go to the Internet boom. According to a recent directory of the Nepal Telecom, at least 5,00,000 Nepalis have direct and easy access to the Internet. Out of Nepal’s 75 districts, Internet is being accessed in 55 districts and more districts are expected to be covered with technological innovations in telecom and the net making inroads into remote and rural Nepal.
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