60s to 2004 hows it changed???

seventies'hippy

More Hashish,,,,,,,,,

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lobo

In twenty years time i wonder if people will be starting threads
"how inidia has changed since the ealry 00's"

Alan D

As this is developing into a sort of nostalgia thread here's a photo I had taken around about '72 I think, in Kathmandu.

The authorities were getting a bit sticky about people hanging around Kathmandu so if you wanted to extend your visa you had to go trekking.

This meant getting a trekking permit for a small amount of rupees but you had to supply a couple of photos. There was a guy nearby who had a box with a lens. I remember he had a bottle top over the lens. He removed it for a few seconds, then replaced it and developed the photo.

Anyway this was the result - pity about the haircut!

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indiawise

What strikes me quite a bit is the traffic, which seems to have 'exploded' onto the scene and procreating madly. Then we seem to have lost a certain quality of life where there were more get-togethers,singing,dancing,maki ng good food n eating n drinking.

I was reading Ruskin Bond's short stories and thinking about how much the hill stations in India have changed both in physical form as well as in the life style. Even 25 years ago it was paradise zone....

seventies'hippy

Hey Allen,
I've just blown the dust of one of my permits,,,,,,

One of my favourite places was up near the chinese border, It's called Tato-Pani obviously there were hot springs there, 1rp per night in the only lodge, you could walk to the border but not enter, the chinese guards would stamp your passport though,
We got up there by hitching a lift on the mail delivery van,,,,,,,,

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bijapuri

Alan, he was such a nice boy until he started listening to the Beatles!


1972 was my big Cmas jam . . . .
had been in India since fall of 1970, and was sporting a lean mean bod, hahaha

I remember the Who sound system, we put a mike in the center of a HUGE circle, and the sound filled the crater of Anjuna just perfectly. The root note was slightly lower than D, as per the indian "Sa" of the day that all the harmoniums were set atand we walked around jamming! I remember the rumors about the Anjuna acid well, but far more common was the fifth sized bottles of the stuff. a drop or three was all it took, though always it seemed someone would take a swig! I remember "Sadhu Mike" with whom I spent many an hour jamming. I believe he has moved on to the next plane of existence many full moons ago
I featured 2 guitars and a harmonium then. Somehow they all got carried.

And I saw that lady on the border in action, she was the best! Shook down some hash off a terrified longhair, she did. I don't remember anyone getting massive jail or anything for it, but I could be wrong.

And now- how about some old fart memories of the Rex/Dipty's scene in Colaba???

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beach

Bij, The Gripping part of ‘Dum Maro Dum…. ’ (smoke again and again!) is actually the visuals of the song than the audio. It fused the Hare Rama, Hare Krishna chant with the environs of a hypnotic/hysteric hippy bar. You can actually smell the Hashish by watching this song And there were a lot of ‘hippies’ (Indian & west) featured. A much younger Dev Anand & Zeenath is nice to watch. It’s an evergreen song even now played occasionally over the channels. Aptly it was a tribute from India to the hippies of the 70’s.

( okay, I was not born when this created the rage here )

http://www.brns.com/bollywood/pages1/bolly63.html

volga_volga

Alan, in the end i couldn't refrain from commenting - nothing is wrong with the haircut, there is something Sir-Walter-Scott-esque to the picture, the first thing that came to my mind was IVANHOE

really great portrait photo! is the credit to the photographer or to the model?

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bijapuri

Dum Maro Dum

HKHR was shot largely in Katmandu. One fine day a rumor swept like wildfire trough the teashops of Swyambu. All hippies were invited to bring their hash, their chillums and their empty stomachs to the only upscale hotel in the Katmandu valley (I think it was the Oberoi, IIRC) where a lavish feast would be provided as well as Rs.50 (again, IIRC). And many of us made it accross the valley, and were featured in the movie!
Some of us, however, started the party a wee bit early and never made it
And thus, I missed my shot a fame and immortality!
Had we known that movie would plague western travelers for years, many might not have enabled it . . . .

freenote

atempted a few times to get to india in the sixties but i was side tracked quite easly.Istanbul was my downfull.Used to get lodged in the pudding shop,changing moneyand a bit of hash on the side,it kept you going .Then used to head down to isreal for a rest .the photo was taken just outside of Gaza(many Bom Shankars were heard )In the photo is my lady wife and old freind.He finaly made it to India,but ended up a casualty.Came to rest on a train on route to nepal and uttered his last bom shankar. Thats life!!!!Nostalgia time folks

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seventies'hippy

Thats a great picture freenote,
I'm sure it must be a treasured possession

Wanderer22

Do you wonder what ever happened to some of the people from the 60's and 70's ??? Am sure we've all lost touch with good friends from many years past. Lately I've had several old friends make contact after 20 years silence.

Would like to try doing something like this myself.... In early 70's India I had the pleasure of meeting a person who later became a good friend. This fellow had spent most of the 60's and 70's in India and knew the place and people like the back of his hand. Apparently he even knew THE Mrs. I. Gandhi, who had stuck up for him when the authorities were trying to deport him. I heard a few stories about this person shortly after we met, but took them with a large grain of salt. His close contact with the Tibetan community may have been a source of friction to the security people. At the time there was much paranoia about Tibetans raiding across the border into China and this friend loved nothing better than to go exploring in areas of Lahul and Spiti which were off limits. What ever he did must have pi_sed someone off. In retrospect the times we travelled together were like a movie script. Once while having lunch in a dhuba at Konark we were approached by three well dressed men. Two in suits and one in uniform. They asked my friend if they could talk to him, and his reply was that we were having lunch and he would meet them at a near by guest house after finishing. After they left I asked who that was? The reply... "Oh! that's the CBI (Central Bureau of Intelligence) they've been keeping me under surveillance".
Perhaps I should have taken a smaller grain of salt. After interogating my friend the three men came to my room and asked a lot of questions. When I asked what this was all about was told that they were just doing tourist research....Oh sure! Took the bus to Bhubaneshwar next day as I had a Kolkata flight to catch. After checking in for the flight was approached by more men in suits who invited me to a private room for another chat. A repeat of the previous day resulted.... Again I asked what this was all about, and again was told..... Oh just information for tourism. Eventually my flight was called for boarding and I left with very damp armpits and a sigh of relief. Glad this was before high speed communication as I only stopped in Kolkata long enough to collect a permit for Darjeeling and Kalimpong.

The friends name is John Weir Hardy and he is English. His age would now be aprox. late 60's. He might be living in England as I heard health problems forced him to leave India. Anyone cross paths with John or know what became of him. We talked of putting together an India book with my pictures and some of his writings, but unfortunately it never got off the ground. Would love to e-mail him a photo I took just before that unexpected meeting in the Konark dhuba. Can anyone help with an address?

Wanderer22

paan wallah

I remember the peace cafe in eilat....

or staying at taba or nuveiba on the beach...



some years ago a german guy lived in my flat...

he lived in nepal for 12 years and 6 years in india(in the 60 s and 70 s)

long time ago... that time my first visit to india was still to come,so I didn t quite understand the stories he told me
now I know better

maybe somebody knows him?

his name,I only know his nickname,was rafaelos,he was a very good jewellery-maker
especially rings and amuletts with shiva eyes..

-m2-

Planning for a trip to India began in Agadir, Morocco in jan-feb '69. I kept bumping into the same people while getting around europe in my citroen van -- octoberfest, brewery tours, cool spots like the caves in crete, ski-bumming in kitzbuell, and then the buzz was to head for the beach at agadir which was reputed to be a great place to go for the winter (it was). Traveller talk at the time was 'next winter in India' and a few of the people I'd met along the way were planning on meeting up in Munich in september during octoberfest. That's where I would sell the van and head east with whoever showed up. Good thing I like travelling alone as nobody showed and I bought a ticket on the Orient Express to Istanbul and I'm off -- no map, no guidebook, no clue.

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Alan D

We're going really off topic here!

Should we rename it "The Old Fart's Thread"?

Caves in Crete -m2-. It wasn't by any chance Matala, was it, where Joni Mitchell wrote

"The wind is in from Africa, last night I couldn't sleep".

We slept in one of those caves on the advice of the locals as the regime's police were "cleaning" the place up. Going by the smell I think the sheep and goats also made use of them.