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river, the holy Bagmati, that flows below. A corpse is being cremated on
its banks; washerwomen are at their work and children bathe. From a
balcony a basket of flowers and leaves, old offerings now wilted, is
dropped into the river. A small shrine half protrudes from the stone
platform on the river bank. When it emerges fully, the goddess inside will
escape, and the evil period of the Kaliyuga will end on earth.

Proclaims: make known publicly or officially
febrile confusion: hurried activity; complete chaos
Saffron - clad westerners: foreigners dressed as sadhus
Corpse: dead body
Wilted: dry and withered
Shrine: a place of worship
Protrudes: comes out
Kalyug: it is the fourth and last stages or time period of a Mahayuga. It
started with the end of Mahabharata when Lord Krishna left the Earth.

Outside the Pashupatinath temple, a
board was hung which read that entry
into the temple was restricted to
Hindus only. There was chaos
outside the temple as priests,
hawkers, devotees, tourists and
various animals moved around. The
writer and his friends offered a few
flowers in the temple. There was a
huge rush of pilgrims and they were
elbowing each other in order to move
ahead and reach the priest. As a royal
princess appeared, everyone got
aside to give way and bowed to her. At the main entrance, a group
of foreigners who were dressed up in saffron colour clothes like
sadhus were trying to gain entry into the temple. The guard denied
entry as he knew that they were not Hindus. Then he saw two
monkeys fighting and one chased the other who jumped onto a
shivlinga, then ran around the temple and finally, reached the
banks of the holy Bagmati River which flows next to the temple.
There he saw a dead body being cremated, washerwomen washing
clothes and children bathing in the river. The writer noticed how the
river was being polluted when a basket of dry withered flowers was
thrown into it from the balcony of a building. A small temple
protruded from the platform on the river bank. It is said that when
the temple would emerge out completely, then the goddess in it