Kathmandu, May 6 -- In 2008, when Shankar Uprety left for the US to pursue a Master's in computer engineering, he carried with him a Nepali bhittey patro, a Nepali calendar. During his first year in the US, Uprety would rely on the calendar to stay informed of the dates of different festivals his family members would be celebrating back in Nepal.

"This allowed me to call them on important festivals and gave me an opportunity to celebrate these festivals vicariously," says Uprety.

But a year after his arrival in the US, the Nepali calendar, like all calenders, became outdated.

"Back then, social media wasn't as widely used, and without a physical calendar it wasn't very easy knowing which festival fell when," says Uprety. "I thought how...