Saturday, January 21, 2006

Umesh Shrestha: Pioneer






When you go to Umesh Shrestha's blog, he displays himself as the world's first blogger in the Nepali language. What he does not say is that he is also the world's first Nepali video blogger.

Mero Sansar

Mero Sansar Video
Mero Sansar Audio
Mero Sansar Photos

Mero Sansar Video Clips 2
Mero Sansar Video Clips

How did I bump into Umesh? I was in talks with Dinesh Wagle of United We Blog to get him into video blogging. He is a great guy with a great blog, but we were not exhibiting much movement at all. And I bumped into the Nepali language blogs.

Umesh, Turn It Into A Business
Nepali Bloggers At The Forefront Of The Movement

I wrote to Umesh asking what I could do to help for him to do more of what he already seemed to be doing. He said if he could get four more batteries to the tune of Rs. 1200, he could capture 40 minutes of video in a row. That was peanuts compared to how important the work was. At that point I was getting desperate. The UML rally was at the doorsteps. This was a few days before the December 2 rally of the UML.

My favorite video clip from Umesh continues to be that very first one. That video clip is historic. That was a departure point for the diaspora. The word was out: it was not true the people were not rallying behind the parties.

And then a few hours back I saw the two clips from the curfew. This is gutsy journalism. This guy is going places.

These three are my favorite video clips from Umesh.

A few days I bumped into Umesh somewhere else, at OhMyNews. His article showed up on the first page of Google News.

VODStudents organize a secret rally at Lalitpur, Nepal, Jan. 18. / Umesh Shrestha
Day-Long Curfew Imposed in Kathmandu OhmyNews International, South Korea Umesh Shrestha ...."People will defy the curfew order, and we will organize the program as planned." ..... The government has issued a public warning that security forces are authorized to shoot anyone violating the curfew. It also gave notice to civil servants that they must report to for duty before the curfew is imposed. Likewise, those who must travel during curfew hours will have to have a permit from the authorities...... junior communication minister Sirish Rana defended the government's action. "Nepal is a poor country, how many people can afford a cell phone? They (the Maoists) use cell phones" ...... several small "secret" rallies were organized throughout the day at different places...... They shouted slogans against the king and quickly dispersed. The police seemed unaware of this incident.
Day-Long Curfew Imposed in Kathmandu Umesh Shrestha
Nepal Curfew Extended by One Hour Umesh Shrestha
Dozens Arrested in Nepal for Defying Order Umesh Shrestha
Nepal Bans Peaceful Public Gatherings Umesh Shrestha
Nepal's Elusive Guerilla Leader Makes TV Appearance Umesh Shrestha

You have to give Umesh credit. This guy is entrepreneurial. His goal is to become self supporting.

So go to the Mero Sansar blog, to its top right corner, click on the PayPal button and contribute. $10, $20, $50, $100 or more. Any and all amount will help.

Broadband is a huge expense for him. And he blogs full time, so he does need to eat too. And if he could afford it, he could buy himself a higher resolution camera, perhaps another card with a larger memory, and we could be watching higher resolution videos. So donate and do your eyes a favor: Mero Sansar.

This guy takes huge risks to bring you the video clips he brings to you.

So many people in Kathmandu have what he has, camera, internet access, but I don't know of anyone else who is doing what Umesh is doing. This guy has fire in his belly.

I am personally thankful to him for helping me stay in touch with the movement in Nepal in a rather intimate way.

Mero Sansar, Blogger Nepal

Mero Sansar Video
Mero Sansar Audio
Mero Sansar Photos
Blogger Nepal Podcast

Narahari Acharya

Diaspora Needs To Pitch In: Gagan Thapa
Pradeep Nepal, Highlights, Full
Krishna Prasad Bhattarai

Seven Party Rally, Baneshwar, Page 1, Page 2
Civic Society Fast
Tulsi Giri
Reaction To Tulsi Giri
Gagan Thapa

Blogger Assaulted

Nagarkot
Baneshwor Highlights

Shambhu Thapa
Human Rights Day
Human Rights Day Rally
Umesh Shrestha, Metro FM Interview
Police Suppression
Slogans

Minendra Rijal, Part 1, Part 2

Mero Sansar

Decemer 2 Rally In Baneshwar
Madhav Nepal's Challenge
Dillibazar To New Baneshwar
Rubin Gandharva Song
The Wrongfully Arrested
Indian Leader
Madhav Nepal Reacts To Vandalism Threat (Audio)
Speeches

Visitors

21 January08:48Comcast Communications, Nashville, United States
21 January10:44National Internet Backbone, India
21 January10:46Tele2, Switzerland
21 January10:50Nepal (wlink.com.np)

21 January11:31Deutsche Telekom AG, Germany
21 January12:04@Home, Canada

21 January12:25Smart Telecom Holdings, Ireland
21 January13:0772.65.194.x
21 January13:57Connect, Australia
21 January14:06Royal Bank of Canada, Canada

21 January14:10Shaw Fiberlink, Canada

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