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JUMLA - I was 16 and waiting for my SLC results when I made my first radio program for the Karnali's first radio station here in Jumla. It was a program for children, to provide them with knowledge they would not get from textbooks in an entertaining way. It was challenging and exciting for me, but it also brought plenty of criticism in our patriarchal society. I had gone against the traditional norms of society, and what was expected of young women. I had to go out into the countryside to collect information for my program, often in the company of men. The work at the radio meant staying late at the station, meeting new people every day. All this gave plenty of grist for the gossipers in town. Fortunately I had a mother was fully supportive and cushioned me from the criticism.
My colleague Krishnamaya Hamal's mother wasn't as supportive, and came under so much pressure at home that she had to abandon her dream of working as journalist. There are many young women like her here in the Karnali who have had to give up their aspirations to serve in the media.
So imagine my pride and sense of achievement when we established the Karnali's first all-women FM station, Nari Awaz last month. Back then, I had never imagined that seven years later we would have our own station to broadcast programs on gender issues and women's empowerment. We overcame the obstacles, the rumour mongers and naysayers, the technical and financial difficulties and we challenged societal norms to set up Nari Awaz.