Wave turns 18 this month! It feels a little surreal to watch this little magazine of ours that so many of us have nurtured over the years mature into an adult poised to reach even greater heights. When WAVE was launched in 1994, it was the only English-language magazine in Nepal and one that spoke to teens and addressed their interests and issues. In the Paleolithic 1990s, devoid of internet, mobile phones and cable tv, we were the trailblazers, the go-to staple for young people across the country.
For a generation that grew up without these modern luxuries, WAVE had all the answers, from what to wear, to information on upcoming bands, what was in and what out, book and movie reviews, opinions, song books and posters to plaster our walls with. Over the years, we have grown up, taken on many avatars, but remained faithful to our core audience: youngsters. In our 16th year, we decided to branch out and reach a larger market. As WAVE began to mature, our readers started to come of age as well and wanted us to tackle new, edgy, complex issues. So we started approaching subjects previously considered taboo. From a teen magazine, we became a youth publication and we only hope we have been able to rise to the challenge and live up to your expectations.
In this issue, we take a retrospective walk down memory lane. We bring you the most appreciated covers over the past two decades as well as those, which make us shake our heads and go 'what on earth were we thinking?' And as a salute to the past, we bring you eight pull-out pages of our favourite rock bands, but we draw the line at reintroducing the songbook, lyrics.com people!
Never one to shy away from controversial issues, we look into the rising prevalence of suicide among Nepali teens. Rubeena Mahato writes about the thorny world of social media while Slok Gyawali looks at how hate drives us. Nepa.Li offers his apologies to the unsung multitude of young boys and girls who work in our homes to try and eke out an education while doing all the household chores simultaneously. The world of blogging is fascinating where every issue under the sun is explored and open to scrutiny. We met up with three popular Nepali bloggers and bring you excerpts of their blogs.
Cosmetic surgery, organic fibre, gaming, lingerie, jewellery, you name it, we have it. We started our street style initiative last month and it's been a resounding success. This month, we bring you stylistas from Dharan and Kathmandu, but watch out for this space, for your town could be next.
While we are thrilled that we are the team to be working on this Anniversary Issue, we do feel the weight of responsibility and hope that we have done justice to all the editors, writers, contributors, photographers, designers and illustrators who came before us. A huge shout out to them and an even bigger one to you, our readers. Without you, we would cease to exist. So thank you for allowing WAVE into your hearts and homes every month for the past 199 issues. Our only hope is that you will continue to set aside a little space on your shelves for us till 2030 and beyond.
