Kathmandu, March 4 -- It is a cloudy Saturday evening and the skies are as grey as the chillum smoke lazily circling Madanlal Goswami Pandit and Bablu Goswami Pandit. The two sit side-by-side at the Ram Mandir in Pashupatinath, taking long, deep drags from a short stubby chillum that they clutch between their fingers.

Madanlal and Bablu are guru-chela, master and student, an ancient and holy covenant between ascetics. Both sport long beads, their foreheads lined with ash and their robes saffron. Madanlal is 50 and has been regularly visiting Pashupatinath on Shivaratri for the past 12 years. For Bablu, 32, it's only been six years.

They arrived here together on Friday, with just two blankets, two bed covers and some ganja. They now sit ...