Prashant Tamang got married with his girlfriend Gita Thapa Magar on May 7, 2011, Saturday in a five star hotel among 900 invitees in Darjeeling. Present in the ceremony were Nepali producer Rajesh Ghatani, singer Dambar Nepali, and singer Prakriti Giri among others.
According to report, Upadhaya died at around 5 and 6 PM of May 9, 2011. The dead body will be brought back by a 17 member mountering team lead by Dawa Steven Sherpa.
xNepali team offers heartily condolence to the family of the brave-hearted Shailendra Kumar Upadhyay and we wish his soul rest in peace.
Previous posts:
Nepali actress Poojan Chand, has decided to marry for the second time in the US. Pooja’s new husband is Raju Lama, the lead singer and lead guitarist of The Angles band. Pooja has been living in the US for the last five years after her previous marriage with Suraj Chand couldn’t continue.
Leaders need to lead people for their betterment. But in Nepal, the term ‘leader’ itself is redefined as a person who talks big, deceives public, runs after a post, and earns him/herself a fortune in a record time.
When leaders forgot to lead, people start to fight for themselves. Nepali users of Facebook and Twitter organized a leaderless strike in an effort to pressure the political leaders in doing the job they were elected for, to write the constitution in Maitighar, Kathmandu.
Some photos of the event (photo credits – Nagariknews and NepalDiary)
One of the participants read satirical poem that shows the frustration of Nepali youth against the failure of the political leaders to lead the country. The poetic representation of “the current state of ethical bankruptcy among Nepal’s top politicians” is simply hilarious.
Some more photos (credits – Nepaldiary)
UPDATE – Another video
More photos:
Nepali Times is all about judgment. Judgment of people, judgment of policies, judgment of relationships, judgment of art/artists, and Judgment of products. Although, I still believe they are the best in town, it’s time to evaluate if they are keeping up with the expectation? After reading this article, I for the least, will be a bit more cautious in taking their judgments and credibility.
Ranking stuffs is not an easy task. It is an art, mathematics, and a rigorous exercise – based on facts and figures. Google, leader in ranking websites rank websites based on backlinks, number of incoming and outgoing links in a website. Alexa, another website ranking tool evaluates data from users who install their toolbars. These limitations have made them credible in their own field and their ranking comes with their respective limitations attached.
Let’s see the Nepali Times ranking (This is misleading):
Top Ten
1. mysansar.com
2. meroreport.net
3. ushaft.wordpress.com
4. dautari.org
5. blog.com.np
6. nepalivoices.com
7. madhesi.wordpress.com
8. hamroblog.com
9. aakarpost.com
10. guffadi.blogspot.com(Top ten blogs from Nepal ranked in order of visits.)
They have given a boundary – visits. It is not clear whose visits it is (I suspect, is it only the author’s visit!) If it were general people’s visit, the author should have mentioned the source. When I visited the sites mentioned, all I could find the visit data were of the blogs ranked 1, 4, and 10. There is no doubt, Mysansar is the top in every terms.Talking about the rest of the blogs – I don’t think any of the blogs deserve the position granted by Nepali Times. Some low ranking blogs have much better visitor than mentioned and others don’t even deserve mentioning. For example, one of the blogs mentioned was updated last year, and doesn’t have a single original content. Some other blogs are mere online archives of articles published in the print media.
What is blog?
The article defines: “In Nepal, blogs are transforming the way urban Nepalis get their information.” I thought that was a news site, or Nepali Times magazine itself.
In my view – blogs the mouthpiece of person or an organization with a facility to discuss and debate. Unless a blog is defined properly, there is no point in ranking them.
What is “visits” ?
The ranking criteria of the article visits can be the number of people that visit a particular site in a day/month/or year. A single person can read more than one articles and those ‘page views’ are usually more than ‘visits’. For example, in March 2011, xnepali had 1 million pageviews. But, each visitor had an average page views of 2.7 pages (i.e. 382,000 visits). Many sites don’t reveal this information, so it is not easy to get this data from all the websites.
What is Nepali?
It seems easy, but it’s not. A Nepali blog, can be linuxcandy.com, a blog made by a Nepali blogger, but there is no mention of it being Nepali anywhere, or a xnepali.net/movies, where Nepali is written in the domain name itself. It can be lexlimbu.com, a blog by a UK resident Nepali who can speak but can’t read/write Nepali that well.
Response:
The blogger Ushaft (Ranked 3) after thanking the author of the article said (in Twitter), “But, I think it is misleading to say they are “ranked based on visitors”- would be better to say stg (something) like “our pick” or “a random cross-section of blogs” … not-so-good blogs are on the list you’ve made.” Ushaft adds, “I hope a little more care would be shown in such matters in the future.”
Another blogger Aakarpost (Ranked 9) told he his blog had 75,000 pageviews last month (excluding his own visits). That is more than twice the total pageviews of the blog ranked 10, in it’s entire existence since 2008 (~ 1,100 per months).
Anil of Aaakarpost had even analyzed the Alexa ranking of Nepali sites to compile this ranking – Mysansar (1/17), xNepali (2/72), itinfoz (3/78), techsangv (4/99), aakarpost (5/137), chapagain.com.np (6/185)nirmal.com.np (7/244) ashesh.com.np (8/314) – where the first number in bracket is blog rank in Nepal second number is the total website rank in Nepal. The rank proposed by Aakar is at least based on credible data (with it’s own merits and demerits).
I ask the following Twitter users (Representatives of the blogs ranked by Nepali Times) to post their views in the comment section:
1. @salokya
2. @hellomuku
3. @ushaft
4. @dautari
5. @wagle
6. @UjjwalAcharya
7. (Couldn’t find Twitter user)
8. @kpdhungana
9. @aakarpost
10. @NepaliGuffadi
Thank you.
UPDATE: I am updating this article in fear that the negative tone in the article might undermine the quality of the blogs mentioned in the Nepali Times article. In terms of quality, the top ranked blogs, by Nepali Times, deserve mention (but, without the numbers attached to them). Here are my evaluation of the blogs:
Mero report – a community blog striving to redefine journalism is gaining popularity in Nepali blogsphare. The contribution of another blog, initiated with the motive similar to meroreport, Dautari, can’t be overlooked. Most probably the first Nepali blog in English, blog.com.np doesn’t deserve to be ranked based on visits. Ushaft is a seasoned journalist with views to ponder upon and respect. Anil of Aakarpost is a dedicated blogger with useful and informative contents in it. I don’t read much of Hamroblog, but I have heard that he is a good journalist. The fun filled Guffadi’s blog is a worthy mention too.
My question was – How can somebody say the following blogs (that weren’t ranked) are bad?
NepaliKeti’s blog, Dhaiba‘s blog, Durjaya Chetana, Lex Limbu’s blog, CP Aryal‘s blog, Krishna Thapa‘s blog, blog by Archana Shrestha, Rajesh’s KhasKhas, Anish’s eNepal, Bhojraj Dahal’s Nepal Diary, Tajim’s blog, Dipak’s Diary . Yes, this is my personal list of blogs. I expect some good stuffs in them. That doesn’t mean they will rank in a list of top ranki
ng blogs in Nepal. I shouldn’t be ranking them unless I have credible data, knowledge, and resources to do so.
Rekha Thapa is in Lumbini for the shooting of her sixth movie Andaaj. The following photo of Rekha was taken in the shooting spot of Lumbini.
Andaaj is being directed by Ujjwal Ghimire. In addition to Rekha Thapa, the movie will feature actors Jiwan Luitel and Sabin Shrestha in the leading role.
You might be wondering if Google has started a Fast Food chain. If you can read Nepali and you have been to this restaurant, you would be inclined to think so. After all, the sign board is sponsored by Pepsi. Go! Google for the fast food and ice cream!
The photo credits – Anbika Giri in Twitter
In response to Rajesh Hamal‘s revelation that he has a girl friend and is planning to marry soon, the playboy of Nepali films, Bhuwan KC has told that Rajesh has learnt two things from him.
Maata Tirtha is one of the auspicious festival in Hindu mythology falling on the. The pilgrimage (Tirtha) of mother (Mata) is collectively called ‘Mata Tirtha Aunshi‘. The main feature of the Nepali Mother’s Day are:
In Matatirtha, people take quick shower in the water taps and make offerings in the holy pond with a belief that the souls of their mothers come to the pond to accept their offerings. The visitors also worship Shiva lingam located near the holy pond.
Those who can’t go to mata-thirtha visit Pashupati temple in Kathmandu or any other holy places nearby to honor their departed mothers.
The statue of a mother image is opened once in a year on the Mata-tirtha day.
People bathing in the Mata Tirtha pond (2009 photo, credits Rajendra Manandhar)
Update: Latest report – Osama bin Laden’s body is currently kept at Bagram Airbase, just north of Kabul in Afghanistan.
In a statement, the US president Barack Obama has told that the US is in possession of the dead body of Osama bin Laden.
Osama bin Laden, believed to be the mastermind behind the September 11, 2001 terror attack in the US is killed in US operation in Pakistan. US President Barack Obama said in an address on Sunday that a small team of Americans killed bin Laden in a firefight on Sunday, May 1, 2011.
The former president, in office during the terror attack, George W. Bush has hailed t
he death of the most sought-after terrorist of all times.
The Sept. 11 terror attacks on the World Trade Center towers in New York and the Pentagon in Washington killed more than 3,000 people. Al-Qaida is also accused of carrying out 1998 bombings with 231 deaths in US embassies in Africa, 2000 USS Cole attack in Yeman, killing 17 American sailors and a number of other attacks.
News video:
The following photos are the official pictures released from marriage of Prince William and Catherine Middleton:
Britain’s Prince William, center left, and his wife Kate, Duchess of Cambridge, center right, i
n a group photograph with other members of Royal family. On the back row from left – Master Tom Pettifer, Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, Prince Charles, Prince Harry, Michael Middleton, Carole Middleton, James Middleton, Philippa Middleton. In the front row from left, Grace van Cutsem, Eliza Lopes, Prince Philip, Queen Elizabeth II, Margarita Armstrong-Jones, Lady Louise Windsor, and William Lowther-Pinkerton. The photo was taken in the Throne Room at Buckingham Palace, following the royal wedding at Westminster Abbey, London, on Friday, April 29, 2011. Photo credits – Hugo Burnand, Clarence House
Apr 2, 2011 @ 11:30
Nepal Medical Association (NMA) expressed its deep concern over the deaths and suffering of the victims who consumed the elephantiasis prevention drug distributed by the government. At least seven people died and around 700 took “seriously ill†in the last three days, according to unofficial reports.
Elephantiasis is a disease that causes thickening of the skin and underlying tissues, especially in the lower body, caused by small, threadlike parasitic worms spread by Culex female mosquitoes.
The government administered two free different drugs — Diethylcarbamazine (DEC) and Albendazole — to 14.5 million people aged above 2 years in 36 districts on March 26 and 27 and they began showing adverse side effects from Wednesday.
High rate of deaths and illness are being reported from Banke, Bardiya, Saptari, Dang and Okhaldhunga districts. In Banke alone, two persons died and more than 500 took ill. Two died in Saptari and 50 people were referred to BP Koirala Memorial Hospital, Dharan. One person died in Dang and one in Okhaldhunga. By Friday evening, more than 100 similar cases have been registered in various health institutions, hospitals across the country.
Meanwhile, medical teams are in field studies in Banke, Bardiya, Saptari and Dang and will prepare report by Sunday. “The drugs cause various side effects like high fever, severe headache, vomiting, diarrhoea and dizziness, but not death,†Dr Biswa Raj Khanal, senior Public Health Administrator at EDCD, said. He added, EDCD has been administering the anti-elephantiasis pill for the last 50 years and Albendazole for last 20 years at the recommendation of WHO.
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Royal prince and princess seal their marriage with the historic kiss on the Buckimgham Palace balcony. With this Kiss, the wedding is over for public.
As the wedding wraps up, News24 seems to be reviving the April first prank started by the Himalayan Times. The news channel claims that Prince William and his newly wed wife Kate are coming to Nepal for their honeymoon.
While broadcasting the royal wedding live, it says preparations are being made for their week-long trip to the Himalayan country.
Here is the video clip of the news by Nepali TV channel:
But this time, the story is different according to an Indian television news channel. The channel claims that thousands of villagers in seven border districts of Bihar have lost their land and homes to encroachers from Nepal – triggering a significant rise in violence and conflict along the state’s border with the Himalayan Kingdom.
On Thursday, the online news of CNN-IBN, a prominent Indian news channel, reported :
The land grab, it appears, has its genesis in a warped century old border treaty. The Indian authorities’ inability to ensure pillars demarcating the border stays intact, making it worse.
According to CNN-IBN news, villager Rashud Ansari, has said, Nepal is occupying the land which should be part of Bihar as all the papers for that land are with India and are from India. The local authorities are well aware about this issue but their hand seems tied down. It further writes, “A lot of people here are leaving their homes and are going to other towns because of the amount of problem Nepal is creating in illegally occupying our land,” said Ramesh Kamgaar, a villager.
The report further said, the 600 Km long open Indo-Nepal border is being patrolled by the Sashatra Seema Bal or SSB, India’s border security force. Yet, pillars demarcating the border are regularly uprooted.
CNN-IBN cited Indian intelligence reports which estimates as below: –
716 International border pillars have disappeared along the Indo-Nepal border.
The report referred the Sugauli treaty signed by the British in 1816, declaring the river Mahakali as the border between the two countries and said the treaty is meaningless as the river has changed course several times southwards into Indian land.
His believers are still hopeful for him to be alive (after all, he still has 11 years to live according to his own prediction).
Today the last rituals of Sai Baba was performed in India. A huge crowd gathered to get the last view of their beloved leader.
He was rested in a 7 feet deep and 12 feet wide trench. A gold statue of Sai Baba will be erected on the spot in a few days.
Some try to prove him to be an average magician. Here are some videos I found in YouTube:
Satya Sai Baba “creates” a necklace out of thin air. Original footage from Robert Eagle’s investigative documentary, ‘Guru Busters’
A more detailed video with explanation to three of his tricks:
