I don't remember when I visited Mero Sansar for the first time. But what I remember is after that day, I have been visiting
the blog site everyday whenever I have an access to the Internet. Mero Sansar (to translate literally,
"My World") has been the third site that I visit most nowadays (the
first two being my Facebook and Gmail accounts). Mero
Sansar presents interesting information in an entertaining way; that is
what has made the site one of the popular Nepali webs to be visited by
thousands of people every day.
Alexa, the web information company has
ranked Mero Sansar as the forty
second popular Nepali website. Similarly, Surath Giri, a blogger, has concluded
based on Alexa itself that it is the most popular blog in Nepal. He introduces the blog as "mainly focused on current issues, it covers the major
political, economic and social happenings of Nepal."
A blog, by definition, is personal in
which the blogger keeps records of his/her activities. But, Mero Sansar has been a public domain. So
far it has received 48 million visitors (Giri). Answering how many visitors he
has, the operator of the blog, Umesh Shresth 'Salokya' refers to the website
extremetracking.com, which has counted his visitors to be 20,196 per day in
average for the last 20 days. It is the first blog in Nepali language began in
April 2005. The blogger is an online journalist now working at
Nagariknews.com. He updates the blog
almost daily, sometimes even hourly, with information on contemporary issues of
public interest and his comments on them.
The most fascinating aspect of this blog
is its invitation to the readers to involve in its discussions. Salokya agrees
on that, "Visitor's loyalty is the strongest part of my blog that attracts
readers", he has said responding to my mail this week. In almost every
post, Salokya first presents information, then comments and concludes his post
asking reader to share their views on the issue. And, what more, the comments
by readers are very argumentative, lively and interesting. Sometimes, the
readers debate there and the number of comments goes on increasing. Salokya had
written "12 Barsha Pachhi Hami PaniHuikiu Sajha Busaima" ("Lets ride on Sajha Bus after 12
years") on 13 April 2013. This post on revival of Sajha Yatayat has
received 90 comments. A reader named Ashesh has commented,
"Congratulation. Glad to read that it goes into Tribhuvan International
Airport. I hope Sajha will soon operate all around the country." But,
there itself, many readers have suspected Ashesh's hope. A reader, Rabin says,
"The newspapers have published that Sajha has been reawakened. But we are
yet to see if Sajha has only changed its colour or it has changes in its
management as well." General readers who generally do not comment also
find it interesting to go through those arguments. Besides, they can vote if
they like or dislike individual comments.
Mysansar
covers issues from various walks of life that have enabled it to receive
readership from different groups of people. For example, while visiting the
site on 24 April 2013, the following titles are found from various sectors:
"Nishale Sagarmatha Chadhna Paaune"("Nisha allowed to climb the Everest") on entertainment, "Aafnai Bike / Gaadile Trial Dina Napaine"
("No self vehicles for the trial") on administrative policy, and
"Bye Bye Antarim" ("Bye
Bye Interim") on political developments. Thus, a person who is preparing
for driving license exams reads the blog as interestingly as one who is worried
about the nation's political fate. Besides, Mysansar
also publishes some articles and blog posts written by his readers and common
folks that the blogger has gone through and found it interesting and of concern
of his readers. This has made Mysansar
an open forum where one can find information of their interest at the same time
express their views on various issues.
It publishes the news stories that are
censored at gate keeping process of newsrooms. Recently it has published an interestingpiece from a reader, Bindesh Dahal's Facebook page that describes a recent
publication of biography of Former Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai. The
mainstream media too had covered the function of the book's release; but what Mysansar has focused is something different.It has revealed that the book is so poor in terms of its language: it has
uncountable errors in terms of spellings, sentence structures, logical
connection among information, punctuation and many other aspects. The post has
cited the extracts directly from the book. I read that piece loud among some of
my friends last week and no one could stop laughing for that. This post seems
one of the most popular among posts of this month because it has received 236
comments by the evening of 24 April. For the fact that it covers many uncovered
news, many people consider it a news site, not a personal blog. That's why,
Salokya has clearly written on top of his home page, "It's not a news
site, (but) it's a blog".
It also has a weekly column "Shanibar Sahitya" for literary
fans. It publishes one or two short Nepali stories every Saturday and none of
them is written by Salokya. Instead, the blogger asks the readers every week to
send their stories and get them published.
The site has a visual design that has
balance of various colours with green in its masthead background. The home page
shows twelve most recent posts with their initial section. If a reader wishes
to read that, s/he can choose "read more" option available in each
post. Generally each post has pictures, graphics or some visual elements as far
as appropriate. The posts also have links to other related news stories or
posts so that the reader can read on the issue further and also find it
credible. The left and right sides have been allocated for advertisements; they
too have contributed to its better lay out.
Mero
Sansar thus has a balance between its content and lay out.
It is a website that is personal and public, informative and entertaining at
the same time. That is why it is so popular among Nepalis living in Nepal and
abroad. Alexa's observation is valid here, "relative
to the overall population of internet users, this site appeals more to men; its
visitors also tend to consist of both uneducated and highly educated,
childless, both high- and low-income users under the age of 35".
Salokya's Mero Sansar has been not
only his, but of mine and millions.
Works Cited
Giri,
Surath. "Top 10 Most Popular Nepali Blogs". 18 Feb. 2013. Surath
Giri's Blog. 24 Apr. 2013. <http://www.surathgiri.com/2013/02/top-10-most-popular-nepali-blogs.html>
Shresth,
Umesh 'Salokya'. "Hoping for your support". Email to the author. 24
Apr. 2013.
Shresth,
Umesh 'Salokya'. "Mero Barema". Mero Sansar. 24 Apr. 2013 <http://www.mysansar.com/archives/old-pages-parent/about>
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