Kanak Mani Dixit

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article does not cite any references or sources. (January 2007) Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unverifiable material may be challenged and removed.

Kanak Mani Dixit is a Nepali journalist, activist, publisher and writer of fiction. He lives in Kathmandu with his wife, and has two children.

Dixit edits the English-language magazine Himal Southasian (www.himalmag.com) and the Nepali magazine Himal Khabarpatrika (www.himalkhabar.com), the first newsmagazine in Nepali history (Dixit himself coined the Nepali word "khabarpatrika" for "newsmagazine"). He also runs a publishing house and perhaps Nepal's finest printing press, as well as writing occasional children's novels.

In 2001 Dixit suffered severe injuries from a mountaineering accident, fracturing his spine. His recovery has prompted him to start a spinal injury rehabilitation centre in Kathmandu. His opposition to the authoritarian regime imposed by King Gyanendra led to him being arrested several times, once for a period of 19 days along with his wife, who runs a school in Kathmandu. During these years Dixit wrote much and gave several interviews to the foreign media, at times from jail. He is recognized as perhaps Nepal's best-known and most important journalist.

Mr. Dixit has been accused by critics of being a sycophant and an avid proponent of an elitist bramhanical philosophy known as "bahun -bad." These critics point at his lavish lifestyle, his family's nontransparent wealth (they own one of Nepal's top media houses, one of the most exclusive schools and lots of property in prime locations in the capital, Kathmandu) and the ability to mold himself to suit the flavour of the day as evidence of these charges. He was a supporter, albeit not outwardly, of the Nepalese Monarchy claiming that the royals "formed an aloof but respected clan" and the institution of the monarchy was a "potent glue which has held this diverse country (Nepal) together" earlier but has now completely distanced himself from that position.^[1]