<![CDATA[Ujjwal Acharya · Storify]]>http://storify.com/ujjwalacharyaNodeJS RSS ModuleWed, 22 May 2013 10:09:10 GMT<![CDATA[The Everest Story]]>

The story of how Twitter users from Nepal found out a misidentification of Mt Everest by NASA in a picture that went viral on web and helped in correction of error.

Storified by Ujjwal Acharya · Tue, Dec 18 2012 01:42:04

On Dec, Saturday, Peter Caltner tweeted an image taken from International Space Station (ISS). He said that it was Mount Everest - the world's tallest peak. 
Mount Everest, Nepal, as seen #fromspace by Yuri Malenchenko aboard the #ISS · PC0101
The image quickly went viral. It was also picked up by Alan Boyle, the NBCNews.com's science editor, and Rebecca J. Rosen, an associate editor at The Atlantic, both of whom posted it into their websites with comments from Ron Garon, an astronaut who had lived in ISS:
I never got a good shot of Mt. #Everest #FromSpace RT @PC0101 http://twitpic.com/bk9tpf - Picture taken on 20121109, 095717 GMT; 800-mm lens · Ron Garan
I saw a few tweets about it but didn't bother to look into it until my good friend Deepak Adhikari retweeted a couple of tweets about it including one from Peter and another from Mashable (which was originally the story published in The Atlantic and remains as the original posting).
I searched a little bit and found that the image is going viral so not to be left behind, I tweeted:
The trending tweeted image! RT @PC0101: Mount #Everest, #Nepal, as seen #fromspace by Yuri Malenchenko aboard the #ISS http://twitpic.com/bk9tpf · Ujjwal Acharya
And, I received this reply from Kunda Dixit, a noted journalist who is very much interested in mountains saying that there is no Everest in it:
And, conversation went on in Twitter:
Then Aakar Anil looked through Google Earth and tweeted:
Deepak joined in saying that Peter should tell us on what basis he claimed it to be Everest.
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]]>http://storify.com/ujjwalacharya/the-everest-storyhttp://storify.com/ujjwalacharya/the-everest-storyTue, 18 Dec 2012 09:40:00 GMT<![CDATA[#SitaAir #KtmCrash kills 19]]>

Early morning Friday, I received a call from Somesh Verma, Kantipur Television's journalist, asking to walk up my roof and see what has happened around Tribhuvan International Airport. "Looks like a big fire," he said and my irritation soon converted into curiosity.

Storified by Ujjwal Acharya · Thu, Sep 27 2012 23:59:39

I walked up to roof with my iPad viewing the Twitter timeline. Somesh had already tweeted asking for the information:
Kantipur TV's Rupesh Shrestha confirmed that it was an air crash!
From my roof, I saw a thick black smoke. However, I could not see where it was coming from and I was sure it was not exactly from the airport. I tweeted a photo before I called my sister living near the place:

From my roof: the smoke of aircraft crash near Kathmandu Airport. #KtmCrash http://pic.twitter.com/51LS4aMc · Ujjwal Acharya
My sister called me and said it's a plane. Quoting her friend, whom she called after I called, she said: "It's a plane and she is watching it burning." 

I called Somesh to inform him but he was already informed about it. Then began flurry of activities on Twitter with people tweeting about it and retweeting. As every other journalist twittter user, I was trying to get authentic information, basically on causalities. Ajay Das, former news anchor, tweeted saying passengers have been killed:
I called KP Dhungana, security reporter at Nagarik daily and author of best selling Open Secret, who turned to police sources, and called me back saying that there is very little chance of finding survivor:
I called Bikash Karki, photojournalist with Republica, who lived nearby hoping he would be at the site. Yes, he was there taking photographs and told me that the plane was burning and he doesn't think there would be any survivor. A sad news.

The number of people on board the ill-fated plane was confirmed by Aakar Anil who tweeted: "...16 passengers and 3 crew in the plane".
We had thought it was a Mountain flight, but Bikash told me that it was en route to Lukla.
Then Binita Dahal, a journalist with Nagarik, who was going to college, tweeted a photo that soon went viral on the Social Media. I couldn't put in her tweet here as her account is protected, but here is my tweet of the photo:
Burning #SitaAir - the plane crashed at Lokanthali, Madhyapur Thimi - 16 this morning. Photo via @binitadahal #KtmCrash http://pic.twitter.com/bo4CqQMA · Ujjwal Acharya
The photo went viral - most of the Twitter users giving her credit and many on Facebook not. My tweet of the photo was retweeted 20 times within an hour and my Facebook status with the photo was shared 167 times when this was written. Same was with other status/tweets from other users.
Here is a video of the burning plane taken on a mobile and uploaded to YouTube:
Sita Air plane crashed · kishormanohora
Journalist friend Matrika Poudel confirmed names of the pilots as Bijay Tandukar and T Thapa. The first suspicion on what might had happened come from veteran journalist Kunda Dixit: 
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]]>http://storify.com/ujjwalacharya/sitaair-ktmcrash-kills-19http://storify.com/ujjwalacharya/sitaair-ktmcrash-kills-19Fri, 28 Sep 2012 06:59:39 GMT<![CDATA[Rajasthan Royals tweets on Shakti]]>

Nepali Cricketer Shakti Gauchan trained with the IPL team Rajasthan Royals last week. This created a buzz in Nepali cricket fraternity with fans hoping that he would somehow become the first Nepali player to play in IPL. It wasn't to be as RR has already decided on the team.

Storified by Ujjwal Acharya · Wed, Apr 04 2012 05:23:01

However, seeing that there was a lot of interest in Shakti in Nepal - including those in Social Media, the official twitter account of Rajasthan Royals put out a quiz question on April 4.
It wasn't an easy question for many RR fans because even the term associate nation probably didn't give them the idea of what it meant. RR followed up with another tweet encouraging the answer.
Some thought Kevon Cooper, an allrounder of West Indies.
The first one to get the right answer was Mandakini Shalya:
And, there is the official reply from RR:
And, clarifications that he was part of the squad for now and a little bit of praise:
Shakti, who reportedly impressed Rahul Dravid and bowled him out during a training session, got an opportunity to meet and take a snap with the Indian legend. A day earlier, he was quoted in The Himalayan Times as saying that when Dravid praised him, it was like playing IPL for him - a great moment:
Shakti Gauchan with Indian legend Rahul Dravid during his training stint with #IPL team @rajasthanroyals http://yfrog.com/mo7wepj · Cricket Nepal
And, a lot of Nepali tweeple followed up with question to RR whether Shakti had any chances of playing IPL. 
And, here is an encouraging note (despite a no for the IPL between the lines) from RR:
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]]>http://storify.com/ujjwalacharya/rajasthan-royals-tweets-on-shaktihttp://storify.com/ujjwalacharya/rajasthan-royals-tweets-on-shaktiWed, 04 Apr 2012 12:23:01 GMT