60s to 2004 hows it changed???

-m2-

ha ha, Alan, indeed Matala....by the time i got there in nov '68 or so, there had been a cover story in LIFE magazine on the place and many of the caves had been turned into 'shit caves' and served as latrines and garbage dumps. But it was a beautiful place and you could get a litre of fresh (cloudy) wine dirt cheap and then there were the near-by orange orchards! the burial 'niches' carved into the walls served as a kind of narrow bunk bed. Greece still had 'the colonels', and it was a pretty interesting place.

oh, yeah, what were we talking about....?

old india hand

From ‘India a travel survival kit’ first edition, October 1981:

Page 506
“If any beach deserves the title of ‘Queen’ it is Colva. This beach is without equal in India.”

Page 510
“Until very recently, Calangute was the beach which all self-respecting hippies headed for,”

Page 513
ANJUNA
“If you want to know where everyone went when Calangute had been filmed, recorded, reported and ….”

Page 605
KOVALAM
“This is undoubtedly one of the best beaches in India if not the best.”

Page 629
“Today, Mahabalipuram is just a small but very pleasant and easy-going village consisting of essentially two streets …”

Page 360
JAISALMER
“It’s so remote and isolated that few people have even heard of it.”

Page 182
“The waters of Dal Lake are amazingly clear, considering what must be poured into them from the houseboats, and there is always something happening ….”

Page 527
MYSORE
“Sandalwood City! Everywhere you go in this beautiful city you’ll find yourself enveloped with the lingering aromas of sandalwood, jasmine, rose, musk, frangipani and a hundred others.” !!!!

Page 279
“There are other cheap hotels around Sudder St but many are strictly for emergency use only. ’Avoid them like the plague, you stand a good chance of getting it‘, reported one traveller.”

Page 614
TAMIL NADU
“Liquor permits are available free from Tourist Office but you must present your passport which is then stamped.”

Page 557
“Bijapur is the Agra of the south,”

Page 7
‘Very briefly India is a triangle with the top formed by the mighty Himalayan mountain chain.”

Page 8
“Basically India is what you make of it and what you want it to be.”

Page 73
“Buying precious stones in Agra or Jaipur to sell in Nepal is a favourite game which is unlikely to return the average traveller any profit.”

Page 75
“Could anything be more British than the Dal Lake houseboats, all chintz, over-stuffed armchairs and understatement?”

Page 78
“Goa has always been a great freak centre, ….”

Page 125
“Mr S C Jain’s Guest House at 7 Pratap Singh Building is also on Janpath Lane ….”

Page 453
“… and frankly it’s grubby and you should beware of bed bugs. But for Bombay it’s reasonable value. The Rex is probably better then the Stiffles.”

SHIMLA

Was this co-authored by Hugh and Colleen Gantzer?

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Dr Funkenstein

This may well be 'The Old Farts Thread' but it's a good 'un.

I'd've loved to see India in the 70's. Somehow this thread has made me feel nostalgic for something I never even experienced. How does that work?

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bijapuri

go to Madhya Pradesh, Eastern AP, or other out of the way places.

Forget which Raj era Sahib said it, but in reply to an old hand muttering "Injha isn't what it once was" replied . . . "it never was what it once was!"

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seventies'hippy

An "in" place in the early 70's,,,,,

Attached Thumbnails

 

swami upanunda

I first went to India in 1972, then 78-80, 82, 84, 86 and then with my son in 2003. Changes ...
No black market - used to be fun hassling with hasslers, let alone being 100 times faster than the bank, and 100% better rate!
Trains windows didn't have bars - better entry than the doors
Dom Mada Dom - used to denigrate hippies on the hash trail ( I don't think there were many other types of foreigners then)
Middle of Connaught place was a collection of open air coffee houses where all sorts of people congregated and shared views on the world.
Travellers used to be really helpful and friendly. People were there for the experience of being in India, because it was so different then.
Phone calls - ha! You'd get on one end and start screaming at a hanpiece. You knew someone was making a phone call when you heard the call "Hello, Hello, Hello" being frustratingly yelled.
'I ave one chillum, you ave hashish - we smoke'
'Baba, you ave one rupee for me'
Stayed where the Pushkar Inn is before it became an Inn - was just ruins and cost 1 rupee a night to sleep in the little balconies that hang over the lake
A few rupees could fix many problems or bureaucratic hold ups
India is so much more crowded now
LP certainly changed the face of travelling in India and has a lot to answer for
Travellers used to exchange information freely, and were a much more tightly knit group than is there now
It's not nostalgia - but it was more a sense of adventure before
Now you can use email etc
People now want to have their itinerary planned from wo to go, hotels booked, trains booked, how much it is going to cost etc - no sense of the flow
But, it's still India, and it's still there - more so in the South than the North
I'm going back in Sept 2004 (with my son who wants to do a camel safari) and will go out to Jaisalmer (remembered as a place with 4 lodges and no camel safaris), then head down South where one can still go with the laid back pace of life
More late ...

swami upanunda

Just a quick extra
Costs ...
Things are obviously more expensive, but when you take into consideration the exchange rate - its surprisingly pretty good
Used to get 8 - 10 Rs/$US - bank rate
Chai - 25 paisa a cup
What I noticed in the 80s was that the price of chai was quite similar, but they had halved the size of the chai in the glass
So price is not all !!
I think that people travelling now tend to pay a lot more for hotels etc - and expect the hotels to supply heaps more.
If the sheet was clean - it was a bargain !!!
Most people travelling to India were doing it on the cheap and so, air con etc was way out of budget or expectations
Western style food has really crept into India, and people now expect to be able to get that type of food
Mahaballipuram had 4 guest houses and dusty tracks - I was totally blown out by the changes there in 2003 - totally unrecognisable - and full of Kashmiris - don't those guys get around.
I reckon you know a place "has gone" when the Kashmiris start shops there !!!

wonderwomanusa

>>and full of Kashmiris - don't those guys get around.
I reckon you know a place "has gone" when the Kashmiris start shops there !!!<<

With luck and good negotiations, perhaps Kashmir will again be safe for travellers and all those Kashmiri shopkeepers can go home. Insh'Allah

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seventies'hippy

What swami upanunda from alandownunda said was obviously said with a lot of passion & from the heart.

Its great that we can look back & remember 'how things were'
but still go with the changes of today, For they are tomorrows memories,,,,,,,,,

Ikuru

That song is so cool dude! I heard that last time I was in india... I went to India first time 92 and I had the expirience in my head and heart every day for ten years untill I went back 2002...

I know I change but India change FAST... First time I was there there was no Internet, mobile phones, Coca cola (only thumbs up and limca) no Umbrellas on the beaches of Goa... No flyers for trance partys... No holliday package tours... I think now Gokarna Is a bit What Goa was ten years ago...

But there is allways anothe unspoiled beach still right? Less and less though...
Allso I had a feeling that Ten Years ago It felt like an Achivment to end up in Asia... I was really Feeling that YEAH! Im in ANOTHER WORLD... Really on the other side of the planet FAAAAR away from All that sucks in the west...

This time I had the feeling that ANYONE can Go (and they do) And allot of the magic was gone... Allot of the sensation that THIS (india) is another world (without MTV etc) Its not like that anymore... East is now slowly turning in to a new west, and west in to something ellse...

The worl is getting smaller and your parents Know India got the Internet and they get worried unless you post them EVERY sunday... I hate that feeling...
Had a friend in Egypt some time ago and they were sending SMS from the top of the pyramids... Its like who CARES? Where did the magic with the two weeks to arival postcard with beerstains and fishcurry go?

You certainly loose some of that with this marvelous thing called the World wide web... But on the more possetive side.... I belive india is to big and to magicall to become mainstream travell all over so easy.... You can still find places no one has had the time to exploit... Places where the restourant owners hardly know of the LP yet.... Is it not the LP that contributed to the comercialism of the back packing route? Would the world be a better place without them? And was not a place like GOA so much cooler in the 70s and 80s than now?

Arambol was one of the places that was allot the same like in the past.... If you dont look at all the big hotels that is....

This is like the Best thread! This is what its all about The Hippies Darn it! The real India! I wish too that I could have been there in the 60s and 70s and Im thankfull I got to see Goa what to me was in its full glory 92....
Love I

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Ikuru

just have to say GREAT Thread (just found it reccomended...) and mark this one for furthermore reading! did anyone read carma cola? A book about goa in the 70s Ive heard...

edwardseco

Ah, you ain't getting any 70 paise fish dinner any more. Bijapuri, she sadly just passed away. Everybody is getting older but us..

seventies'hippy

The emphasis about must having accomadation, Thats whats changed, at one time there was never a need or the ability to prebook accomadation before arriving at a place. If you arrived in Delhi you just made your way to Mrs Calico's guesthouse on Jan Path Lane or if she had no room you just went round the corner to Mr Jains or one of several other places in the area.
If you was real tight for money you slept in Hanuman Park just off Parliament St or in the middle of Connought Place pre carpark days when it had nice grassy areas.
In Pushkar there was only two places, The old Pushkar Palace or the Anand Ashram, outside of that you lived down the ghats or got a cheap room from a local.
Same in Goa, It's hard to imagine that 30yrs back your hotel accomadation was limited to either The Aguada Fort, The grey Tourist Block building at Calangute and a couple of guest houses at Calangute & Baga outside of that if you wanted a room it was rent one from the locals who were always pleased of the extra income or get your own hut together on the beach. No hot water in those days without boiling it yourself there wasn't even running water, It all had to be pulled up from the wells, No pools, room service, telephones, most places close to the beach didn't even have electricity, it was all oil lamps,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

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Dr Funkenstein

It's very good. It's not just about Goa, it's more about what she describes as 'the casualties of spiritual tourism'. Lots of stuff on how young Westerners disillusioned with Western materialism look to the East for spiritual fulfillment and what happens when it all goes horribly wrong ...

Very good book, imo.