Nepali adhunik geet has always had a devoted audience across the country, albeit a smaller one than popular music. While one can hear and see the songs and videos on radio or TV, there is an entirely different feel to it when you sit amidst other adhunik geet enthusiasts and listen to these tunes of the past, and that too when musicians trained in classical music are lending their voices to it.

Every evening at the Pashupatinath temple one can see hundreds of people sitting on the stone steps facing the banks of the river Bagmati waiting for the aarati to start. The light from the oil lamps makes the entire riverside shine with a coppery red glow. A ritual that started 12 years ago, the Pashupatinath Bagmati aarati draws in people of all ages who come to take in the grandeur well ahead of the scheduled time.