60s to 2004 hows it changed???

tongoka

thanks to all of you for such a great thread, I have really enjoyed reading about what the 60s and 70s were like in India. I am very jealous of you all!!!
Anabel

camelgirl

Canada Paul I totally understand why you feel you are unable to go back. I also understand why you wouldn't go without your wife. And all the medical issues (it took my husband and me 14 years between trips, thinking we'd never go back due to medical issues).

That said, I have a suggestion knowing you will NEVER repeat your original experiences but still a way to see, feel & smell India once again WITH your wife.

There are all kinds of tours that go from Canada & the USA which would make your wife feel safe but still give you a nice experience. There is a company which is very reasonably priced when you consider the airfare price alone, which runs a decent short trip. http://www.smartours.com/india_express.htm

They also have a longer trip: http://www.smartours.com/india.htm

We took this company to Thailand because we didn't have the time to do a trip on our own--& we had LIVED in Thailand for a few months in 1980/81 . We loved it and they gave lots of free time to wander around and eat on our own, if we wanted.

Hope this helps you and your wife find something you could live/travel with!! You probably wouldn't even need any vaccinations, just some Deet & sunscreen.

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Ouzodave

Where do all the hippies and older folk hang out in Anjuna? I would like to meet some of these characters and get it from the horses mouth

camelgirl

I'm sure you can find some of them at the weekly "hippy" market. I'm sure I saw some old timers there a few years ago even though it's mainly Indians running things now.

Canada Paul

I've heard that Eight Finger Eddie still goe to Joe Banana's for lunch almost every day. He's 84 and is probably the oldest living hippie who has been there constantly ever since the 60's, before the hippies started coming in masses in the early 70's. There are a few others still around, too. I guess, go to the beach front bars and look for some older looking folks who seem to be very comfortable in their surroundings and know the people running the place real well. Chances are you will have foung an old timer.

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Canada Paul

Aishah

Old hippies are hanging out in Pushkar..

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"Life can only be understood backwards, but it must be lived forwards."

Tanka Baba

Hmmmmmmmm?
Me thinkz I jus don't see the "YOUNG'UNZ" these days with
the "WUNDER-LUST" that WE had !! I mean, I never gave it a
second thought? Got on a norwegian freighter when I was 17!!
Only "YANK", only one who spoke english,made it just fine!!
Europe after high-school, made it just fine!! Sub-continent
in the "70's", made it just fine!! Going back to "MOTHER" in
three weeks, making it just fine!! Like the "PINK RABBIT",
STILL GOINGZ!!

camelgirl

I often think the same thing Tanka. But I have met some young people in India (rarely American) who do seem to "have the wanderlust" and are doing things like we used to.

Maybe there aren't more kids with wanderlust because their parents are us and the baby-boomer western parents (not me, I don't have kids) became the most over-protective, in-your-face, over-scheduling and over-indulging groups of parents I've ever seen. Half the people I know have sent their kids to third world countries to live in a shack to do some helpful thing, like dig a well, and they PAID some organization $20,000 so their kid could feel like they were helping poor people. I'm sure the villagers would have much preferred the $20,000 and keep the kid at home, thank you

I know that my parents were totally baffled about my travels. They didn't pay for them, they didn't organize them, they had nothing to do with them. They worried alot so I sent post cards and letters to reassure them I was OK every now and then. When I took the overland trip they were so freaked out my Dad insisted on giving me a $50 bill to put in my shoe in-case-of-emergency. By the time I got to India that was a soggy bill!

I also didn't start traveling until I was 28 because if I wanted to go somewhere, I would have to pay for it myself, so I worked & saved. It would never have occured to me to ask my parents for a dime.

You can't blame the kids, it's their parents who made them so dependent, insecure & fearful to break loose of the apron strings. IMHO

How long since you've been back to India Tanka?

Tanka Baba

Write On!! You rock, girl!! My daughter went to school for
six months in Musooree as a teenager. Traveled to Ladakh!! She
hain't stopped her travels!! Have a son who was born in Kona & raised on the french riviera. My folks didn't tell me & I ain't
tole mine!! The world HAS been my classe-room!! Educate=Travel

Last trippe was "1984" !!

machadinha

Er, many people I know of various ages still travel the world or emigrate all around with whatever resources they may or may not have.

So stop your old farts' lamenting already, OK?

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Shiver me Timbers

Gotta agree with Mach here, although I can see why some of our older members might think we've lost the 'wanderlust', as you put it.

In my opinion, India is simply not the 'far-out', adventurous destination anymore that it must have seemed in the 60's and 70's. While you guys may have felt you were pioneers in some way (and I'd tned to agree with that), today, there are few paths in India that remain untrodden. If anything, that just proves that more people than ever have the 'wanderlust'.

In addition, there are many other great destinations apart from India that we now travel to, and some of them have that adventurous pull that drew you guys to India in the first place - an attraction that is now, sadly, lacking in most of India.

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Gardener972

It's also not the world we grew up in, the 60's & 70's, either. Crime is in your face now. Who would even think of hitch hiking like we did back then? I certainly wouldn't want my daughter (19) to wander around the world as carefree as we did because I know there's a different mentality now. With the internet & cell phones (texting) people tend to hole-up, not talk, and there's not the "community" spirit and openness like back then. It's just a different world... sigh. I'm sure our parents said that too. BTW, I LOVE the internet and I can speak for myself, I love the different forums and they're a heck of a lot easier to meet people in other areas of the world. Call me lazy, but it sure is easy to hang at home and not do the "work" of face-to-face but we're all missing socialization by doing so. Just my humble opinion...

camelgirl

Hey Mach, you'll get your chance to be a winey old fart someday

Of course Conor is correct, there definitely are still people of all ages having adventures in all different parts of the world. I meet them and I feel soooo happy that there are still travelers interested in the world outside their homeland.

Actually, we were also not limiting our travels to India but since this is IndiaMike, that's what we talk about!! I would never bore your with my other journeys!!

I don't agree that India is used up, over-explored and not "far out" anymore. It's the same India in many ways as it was 35 years ago underneath the high tech revolution, expanding middle class, expanding population.

I never thought of myself as a pioneer & know that I wasn't. The real pioneers came long before us! I particularly admire the 19th century British travelers. Now they were awesome! Climbing mountains in wooley jumpers!!

camelgirl

Gardner, while the world isn't easy peasy anymore for things like hitchhiking, it simply is not the crime ridden dangerous place you seem to think it is.

Young people who want to see something of the world can do so now just as they could 30 years ago, and they are. They just need to be mature, self-aware, aware of their environment and not put themselves in dangerous situations, like getting drunk with strangers in strange places. Good advice in general, crucial for a traveler.

Kids also need to feel confident and independent, which doesn't come in an environment where parents coddle, spoil and manage their kids lives into adulthood. There is a name for those kind of parents now, as it's so common: "helicopter parents" because they never stop hovering over their children. How is a child supposed to develop any confidence if their parents want to protect them every second of every day!! (not talking about you or your daughter since I obviously don't know either of you!).

But if your daughter did want to see the world and she saved her own money to do so, you'd have a hard time stopping her. But if you've scared her into believing it isn't safe out there--don't worry, she's not going anywhere!

Aishah

Yes, many young people are out and about and backpacking on a budget still - the only difference between now and then that I see is that it is all becoming easier for them. Communications - mobiles, internet - modes of travel (planes) all changes and to the better I think. If you get stuck help is fast coming! If you get stuck in the backblocks and no communication possible then there is a learning experience - and this can happen in any country. There are young people just as resilient and resouceful as we were in those 'good 'ol days' and India has not changed, out in the rural areas, as much as you might think. You can still see life as it was lived 500 years back.