Showing posts with label Hippies. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Hippies. Show all posts
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What are the things that come to mind when you hear the word hippie? For most people who have not taken a deeper look into the hippie lifestyle, it is long hair, torn clothes, drugs and basically a lazy person who does nothing much in life. However, I beg to differ.

To me the term hippie symbolizes a person who is peace-loving, fun, free, spiritual, and creative while living life on his or her own terms. It may seem like an easy life, but it takes a lot of courage to break away from the power hungry corporate life that we as a society have created. So let’s take a brief look into what it takes to be a hippie.

To be a hippie you have to travel, at least a bit:


To travel is to explore the world and to explore the world is to explore yourself. Hippies love to travel not as tourists but in order to learn in-depth about various cultures and inculcate the best parts of them into their being. Hippies in the 60’s have travelled by buses, vans and even backpacked all the way from the U.S and Europe to Asian countries such as India, Nepal and Sri Lanka while working and earning along the way. In my books, that is definitely not easy.

You cannot be a true hippie without being sustainable:


Hippies try to be as organic and sustainable as possible. They believe that humanity should live and evolve along with the Earth rather than going against the natural course of nature. They are well aware of what they grow and eat. Today most of us buy food out of packages and have no idea what pesticides and chemicals are put into our food.

You got to love your music:



Hippies are groovy people who love their music and have created some of the most profound music of the century. They have managed to fuse various genres including rock & roll, jazz, blues and classical Indian music. The music of artists such as Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Santana, Cream, The Beatles, CSNY and The Grateful Dead live on and have influenced millions around the world. Music festivals such as Woodstock, The Monterey Pop Festival and The Newport Folk Music Festival have not been forgotten for over 40 years now.

If not a director, you could be a hippie movie buff:



Some of the most artistic, well directed and thought provoking movies of the century have been filmed by hippies during their era. Films such as Easy Rider, The Trip, Head, 200 Motels and Yellow Submarine have underlying meanings which reinforced the hippie ideology of freedom, love, peace and music.

Do you love art as much as hippies do?

Hippies were creative geniuses. Colours were radiant, bright and trippy. Psychedelic art was found not just in art galleries but also on the streets, cars, buses and even on their clothes. The reason hippies loved colors is because they represent life and life should be led in a fun and colourful way.


Back in the 60’s, a lot of hippies hardly wore any clothing because they believed in absolute freedom of body and mind and they were very comfortable in their own skin. However they did create a solid fashion statement with their tie and dye apparels, torn jeans, the Janis Joplin shades, bandanas and natural jewellery made out of crystals, beads and seashells. Check out some cool hippie clothing at https://www.facebook.com/hippiemerch.

Are you spirituality rooted?


Due to the wide use of sacred plants and entheogens, many hippies turned towards spirituality as they were trying to build a deeper connection to the Earth and all living beings around them. Many hippies turned towards the spiritual aspect of eastern practices such as Yoga, Meditation, Kundalini and Zen.

It’s important to protest peacefully when your rights are violated :



Hippies are socially motivated and strive to protect the earth and bring everyone together. They want the world to be absolutely free and when human and Earth rights are violated, peaceful protests against wars, the destruction of the environment and so on are organized. Hippies used music to bring people together. Bob Dylan’s ‘Blowing in the wind’, John Lennon’s ‘Imagine’, Buffalo Springfield’s ‘For what it’s worth’ and Neil Young’s ‘Ohio’ are a few protest songs that created mass awareness through music and without them, the world as we know it would not have been the same.

It is Fun to speak the Hippie lingo :


Hippies had a lingo of their own and often used a lot of superlatives to describe events. Words such as flower power, cool, far out, peace, chill-out, bogart, take it easy, keep on truckin’ and dig-that were used prominently by hippies in the 60’s and some of them have stuck on to this day. It’s fun to add a few hippie words to your everyday speech and watch people’s reactions.

It’s not easy to be a hippie, but there is a lot that we as a society can learn from the by-gone era. There is no doubt that change is required in our present society. However, the most important part of being a hippie, is to keep your spirits high and have a whole lot of fun because life was never made to be taken too seriously. So how hippie are you?


Here are some interesting videos about the Hippie generation ... and how it all began .... :)








Author : Shayne Reynolds


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"Last Hippie Standing 2 : Global State of Mind", is the sequel to a fascinating documentary about the psychedelic, trance dance, hippie culture of Goa which has been evolving since the sixties ... from Rock and Roll to Trance, the transition has made the scene even more vibrant and richer with alternate styles of music being played all over Goa. The documentary is yet to be released however there are some videos from the film you might want to watch. It will perhaps give you the feeling of returning to magical Goa, even though for a short while !

Although Psychedelic Trance parties have a much larger following these days, the spirit of Rock and Roll is still alive and kicking in Goa. 'Art Escape Goa' for one, has been doing a phenomenal job at keeping the live music scene going strong with great artists and budding musicians being given a platform to exhibit their talent. The vibe in Goa is so pure and so magical that it makes people keep coming back for more ... season after season. With an ever increasing number of young psychonauts exploring their subconscious through the psychedelic, trance dance experience, there are all kinds of experiences unfolding. Sometimes confusing with an overload of information ... other times profoundly enlightening and highly uplifting.


Amidst all the chaos and madness of the scene, there are also amazing awakenings and realizations unfolding within our consciousness as we continue to explore ... finding the way back to our roots. The Goa Psychedelic Experience gives thousands of people from all over the world a chance to experience the mystical side of what we consider reality. A playground of sorts where folks lose their individual identities for a short while and experience the power of community and a sense of absolute oneness with everything. These kind of experiences may seem short lived, however have a deep, everlasting impact on our consciousness. Once the mind is opened, it is not possible to go back to a state of willful ignorance.

Goa is, what we make of it ... Let's keep the magic alive :)



Tristan blasting at Shiva Valley, South Anjuna - Goa



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Steve Jobs was always very open about his psychedelic use in the mainstream media sharing his positive LSD story with the masses. He said LSD helped him find solutions to complex problems which he otherwise found hard to crack.

Broadly considered a brand that inspires fervour and defines cool consumerism, 'Apple' has become one of the biggest corporations in the world, fuelled by game-changing products that tap into modern desires. Its leader, Steve Jobs, was a long-haired college dropout with infinite ambition, and an inspirational perfectionist with a bully's temper. A man of contradictions, he fused a Californian counterculture attitude and a mastery of the art of hype with explosive advances in computer technology.

Insiders including Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak, the chairman who ousted Jobs from the company he founded, and Jobs' chief of software, tell extraordinary stories of the rise, fall and rise again of Apple with Steve Jobs at its helm.

With Stephen Fry, world wide web inventor Sir Tim Berners-Lee and branding guru Rita Clifton, Evan Davis decodes the formula that took Apple from a suburban garage to global supremacy.




Biography :

Steven Paul Jobs (February 24, 1955 -- October 5, 2011) was an American businessman and inventor widely recognized as a charismatic pioneer of the personal computer revolution. He was co-founder, chairman, and chief executive officer of Apple Inc. Jobs was co-founder and previously served as chief executive of Pixar Animation Studios; he became a member of the board of directors of The Walt Disney Company in 2006, following the acquisition of Pixar by Disney.

In the late 1970s, Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak engineered one of the first commercially successful lines of personal computers, the Apple II series. Jobs directed its aesthetic design and marketing along with A.C. "Mike" Markkula, Jr. and others.

In the early 1980s, Jobs was among the first to see the commercial potential of Xerox PARC's mouse-driven graphical user interface, which led to the creation of the Apple Lisa (engineered by Ken Rothmuller and John Couch) and, one year later, of Apple employee Jef Raskin's Macintosh. After losing a power struggle with the board of directors in 1985, Jobs left Apple and founded NeXT, a computer platform development company specializing in the higher-education and business markets.




Steve Jobs Documentary Film

In 1986, he acquired the computer graphics division of Lucasfilm Ltd, which was spun off as Pixar Animation Studios. He was credited in Toy Story (1995) as an executive producer. He remained CEO and majority shareholder at 50.1 percent until its acquisition by The Walt Disney Company in 2006, making Jobs Disney's largest individual shareholder at seven percent and a member of Disney's Board of Directors.

In 1996, NeXT was acquired by Apple. The deal brought Jobs back to the company he co-founded, and provided Apple with the NeXTSTEP codebase, from which the Mac OS X was developed." Jobs was named Apple advisor in 1996, interim CEO in 1997, and CEO from 2000 until his resignation. He oversaw the development of the iMac, iTunes, iPod, iPhone, and iPad and the company's Apple Retail Stores.

In 2003, Jobs was diagnosed with a rare form of pancreatic cancer. Though it was initially treated, Jobs reported of a hormone imbalance, underwent a liver transplant in 2009, and appeared progressively thinner as his health declined. In August 2011, during his third medical leave, Jobs resigned as CEO, but continued to work for Apple as Chairman of the Board until his death.

On October 5, 2011, he died in his Palo Alto home, aged 56. His death certificate listed respiratory arrest as the immediate cause of death, with "metastatic pancreas neuroendocrine tumor" as the underlying cause. His occupation was listed as "entrepreneur" in the "high tech" business.








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In the 1960s and 1970s thousands of hippies journeyed east to India in search of enlightenment. Indian peasants assumed that a severe drought in the West was the reason for their migration. India’s holy men saw it as a search for a deeper spiritual meaning to life.

Most of the hippies moved back to their home countries after a few months or years while others stayed for good. 'Hippie Masala' is a portrait of Western expatriates: Robert from Holland, a gifted painter, lives with his wife and young children.








Meera, a hermit, seeks enlightenment on her own, while Cesare, an Italian expatriate, strives for spiritual liberation through back-breaking yoga. Hanspeter, a man originally from Switzerland, runs a small farm in the Himalayas. Erica and Gillian, South African twins, sew hippie handicrafts by day and party tirelessly at night.

All, in the end, embraced this land of ancient traditions and transcendent pleasures as their own. Hippie Masala is a fascinating chronicle about aging flower children who, after fleeing Western civilization, found a new way of life in India.



Reference : Alive Mind Cinema


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"Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas" is a 1998 comedy film adaptation of Hunter S. Thompson's 1971 novel Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas: A Savage Journey to the Heart of the American Dream. The film, directed by Terry Gilliam, stars Johnny Depp as Raoul Duke and Benicio del Toro as Dr. Gonzo.

The film opens with a montage of protests regarding the Civil Rights Movement and Vietnam War, before cutting to Raoul Duke (Depp) and Dr. Gonzo (Del Toro) speeding down the desert of Nevada. Duke, under the influence of mescaline, complains of hallucinating a swarm of giant bats, before going through the pair's inventory of psychoactive drugs. Shortly afterward, the duo stop to pick up a young hitchhiker (Tobey Maguire), and explain what they are doing. Duke has been assigned by an unnamed magazine to travel to Las Vegas and cover the Mint 400 motorcycle race. However, they have also decided to take advantage of this trip by purchasing countless drugs, and rent a brand new Chevy Impala convertible. The young man soon becomes terrified of the drug-filled antics of the duo, and flees on foot. Trying to reach Vegas before the hitchhiker can go to the police, Gonzo gives Duke a tab of "Sunshine Acid", then informs him that there is little chance of making it before the drug kicks in.





Tracklist :

1. "Combination of the Two" by Big Brother and the Holding Company
2. "One Toke Over the Line" by Brewer & Shipley
3. "She's a Lady" by Tom Jones
4. "For Your Love" by The Yardbirds
5. "White Rabbit" by Jefferson Airplane
6. "A Drug Score - Part 1 (Acid Spill)" by Tomoyasu Hotei & Ray Cooper
7. "Get Together" by The Youngbloods
8. "Mama Told Me Not to Come" by Three Dog Night
9. "Stuck Inside of Mobile with the Memphis Blues Again" by Bob Dylan
10. "Time Is Tight" by Booker T. & the MG's
11. "Magic Moments" by Perry Como
12. "A Drug Score - Part 2 (Adrenochrome, the Devil's Dance)" by Tomoyasu Hotei & Ray Cooper
13. "Tammy" by Debbie Reynolds
14. "A Drug Score - Part 3 (Flashbacks)" by Tomoyasu Hotei & Ray Cooper
15. "Expecting to Fly" by Buffalo Springfield
16. "Viva Las Vegas" by Dead Kennedys






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Ever wonder what British Columbia's most profitable industries are? Logging? Fishing? Tourism? Ever think to include marijuana? If you haven't, think again. No longer a hobby for the stereotypical hippie culture of the ‘60s, BC's illegal marijuana trade industry has evolved into an unstoppable business giant, dubbed by those involved as 'The Union'.

Commanding upwards of $7 billion Canadian annually, The Union’s roots stretch far and wide. With up to 85% of all 'BC Bud' being exported to the United States, the BC marijuana trade has become an international issue with consequences that extend far beyond our borders. When record profits are to be made, who are the players, and when do their motives become questionable?

- Why is marijuana illegal?
- What health risks do we really face?
- Does prohibition work?
- What would happen if we taxed it?
- Medicine, paper, fuel, textiles, food, etc. Are we missing something?


Follow filmmaker Adam Scorgie as he dives head first into Canada's most socially acceptable illegal activity. Along the way, Adam demystifies the underground market and brings to light how such a large industry can function while remaining illegal. By interviewing experts from around the globe, including growers, clippers, police officers, criminologists, economists, medical doctors, politicians and pop culture icons, Scorgie examines the cause and effect nature of the business behind getting high. Nobody's innocent in this exploration of an industry that may be profiting more by being illegal. Join Adam Scorgie as he unravels the mystery of The Union.


Reference : The Union - The Business Behind Getting High


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"Retrospective" is an exclusive 45 minute retrospective documentary of interviews with Roger Waters, Alan Parker, Gerald Scarfe, Peter Biziou, Alan Marshall and James Guthrie about the making of the hugely successful album "The Wall"...

This documentary looks at the conception, design and live shows of The Wall performed by Pink Floyd in 1980 and 1981. It features in-depth 1980s era interviews with Roger Waters, David Gilmour, Richard Wright and Nick Mason and shows footage of The Wall performed at Earl's Court in 1980. It also features archival footage of the Syd Barrett era Pink Floyd and discusses how David Gilmour was brought into the band to initially augment their live shows when Syd became unreliable due to his drug problem and how Gilmour ultimately replaced him. A short retrospective of Pink Floyd post-Syd in included. The documentary also discusses is how Roger Waters' concept of The Wall came about and how Pink Floyd, the band, were on the verge of breaking up while performing The Wall concerts. Included are interviews with Mark Fisher (stage designer), Jonathan Park (stage designer), Gerald Scarfe (animation designer and director) and Bob Geldof and Alan Parker in relation to the making of The Wall Movie.







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The onscreen version of Tom Wolfe's literary cult hit 'The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test' is primed to hit theaters by 2010. When published in 1968, the book shattered cultural perceptions of the peaceful, passive hippie zeitgeist by introducing the Merry Pranksters, author Ken Kesey's roving gonzo army of LSD-fueled pioneers who tripped about the country, mixing it up with rowdy Oregonians, Bay Area hippies, Hollywood rockers, Hell's Angels and a flurry of left-handed characters that launched the psychedelic movement into mainstream America and ushered in the Grateful Dead.

Over the years, footage and audio of the Oregon-based Merry Pranksters have surfaced, but was little more than ragged, disjointed documentation of the group tripping and weirding out. Except for Neal Cassady's endless speed-jacked rap, there was little narrative. Now, director Gus Van Sant, an Oregon native, is hemming the book's adaptation to the big screen with Milk and Big Love writer Dustin Lance Black. Milk's director of photography Harris Savides is also committed to the film.

Here's a short 42 minute documentary on the LSD driven Psychedelic Revolution of the 60's titled Electric Kool-Aid ...


After several false starts, the project is coming together. "These seeds have been in the wind for a long time," says Ken Babbs, Kesey's best friend and fellow Merry Prankster. "I talked to Gus. And I was happy he was making the movie. Back in the 1970s, Kesey and Gus were friends and Ken told him if anyone ever made the film he wanted Gus to do it."

Van Sant originally pictured the late Heath Ledger for the Kesey role, but now has two marquee names in mind: Woody Harrelson and Jack Black, which might make the film more of comedy than a zany drug jag. Carolyn Garcia (a.k.a. Mountain Girl), a Prankster and former wife of Jerry Garcia, said Harrelson visited Kesey shortly before he died. "They went out into the field and had a pretty good mind meld," Garcia says. "I just know he could play the role." Garcia mentioned Black might be a fit for "The Mad Chemist," the infamous LSD impresario Owsley "Bear" Stanley, who launched an untold number of minds into outer space and was an artist and early sound engineer for the Dead (he's credited with revolutionizing live stereo sound). Black's camp had no comment. And who will play Caroline Garcia? She suggests Scarlett Johansson. Maybe Maura Tierney. "Well, I'm 5'10", so she would have to be tall. I mean, I ride a Harley Davidson."

Lynn Nesbit, Wolfe's literary agent, said the writer will not likely be involved or play a major character in the film. Instead the focus will be on Kesey and his acid-guzzling band of Merry Pranksters. She added Wolfe left the twisted tales years ago and never looked back, "But I should call him before he reads about this in the papers."

And then there's the music. Should it reflect the actual Prankster playlist, it will be an outstanding soundtrack.

Kesey's crew took earnings from One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest to fund their legendary Acid Tests, where they hired a relatively unknown band called the Warlocks (later named the Grateful Dead). But at the time of the bus trips, Babbs says they played Ray Charles and John Coltrane: "But mainly we did our own music, which was a form of communication without words." Garcia says there was also plenty of Bob Dylan, early Beatles, Miles Davis, lots of Motown and Pete Seeger. "We also played kids' music," she says. "That and classical music like Beethoven, Wagner, Strauss. Some John Phillips."

Being in the wheelhouse during the early heady days of the Merry Pranksters and the Grateful Dead, Garcia has strong feelings about LSD, the book and those Halcyon days. "This is a very valuable substance and appeared on the planet at the same time as the atomic bomb," she says. "We called it inner space. I'll do it now time to time, but I never took it lightly. When LSD came into my life I realized there was another way. Now, I'm about bringing LSD out into the front."

There are still questions about how the film will bring the book to life — similar dilemmas plagued another chemical classic, Hunter S. Thompson's Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas. Can certain aspects of the book be translated, or will third-party observations and interior monologue flow naturally through the storyline? Bear says "a very large CGI budget" could do the trick. "I think I, along with a design crew of my choosing, can work it out."

Now that the movie is closer to becoming a reality, both Owsley and Garcia are reexamining their relationship to Wolfe's text. "If you ask the people [Wolfe] spoke with they will tell you he wrote what they told him, and that may be true as to the words said — much of which was designed to prank him," Bear says. "The book however is more than the results of his interviews. The real tragedy was that they did not manage to dose him, a common practice of the era."

When Wolfe spoke with Rolling Stone's Mark Binelli for one of our 40th anniversary issues in 2007, he described his Kool-Aid reporting process: "One day Kesey said to me, 'Why don't you put the notebook and the pen away and just be here, and then write about it.' The idea was, join in, take some acid, have a few trips, and then write about it. I didn't say anything. The next day I arrived with my notebook and ball-point pen. He didn't say anything, but that was the answer."

"The movie is long overdue," Garcia says. "On the surface, the book ain't bad. But Wolfe didn't dig into the darker, weirder corners. As a film it will reflect the party. But hopefully it will get the meaning of it all."

~ JOHN CLARKE JR.

Source : Rolling Stone


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"The Cannabis Years" is a BBC documentary on the history of Cannabis as projected by the mainstream media propaganda heralded by the hilarious 'Reefer Madness' in the late 20's and how this viewpoint quickly changed to social acceptance among the masses as the media came under the influence of the cannabis years ...

This British documentary traces television and the wider media's reactions to cannabis, from the hysterical vilification of the drug in the 1930s, the punitive measures of the stop and search laws and prison sentences for possession, to the more considered debates now taking place and the real possibility of a change in the law. The story is told through programme clips from the BBC archives, newspaper headlines and interviews. It covers the high profile star busts of the 60s and 70s (when people like Tony Curtis, Mick Jagger and Paul McCartney were taken to court) major drug hauls, science programmes, youth culture and politics. Comments on pot by Chicho Marx, Norman Mailer, Mick Jagger, Dennis Hopper and Shirley MacLaine among many others.


Cannabis, called dà má (大 麻) in Chinese, is known to have been used in Taiwan for fiber starting about 10,000 years ago. Cannabis has been used for medicinal purposes for approximately 4,000 years. In the early 3rd century AD, Hua Tuo was the first known person in China to use cannabis as an anesthetic. He reduced the plant to powder and mixed it with wine for administration. Cannabis was prescribed to treat vomiting, plus infectious and parasitic hemorrhaging. Cannabis is one of the 50 "fundamental" herbs in traditional Chinese medicine.

Cannabis has a long history of medicinal use, with evidence dating back to 4,000 B.C.

Surviving texts from ancient India confirm that cannabis' psychoactive properties were recognized, and doctors used it for a variety of illnesses and ailments. These included insomnia, headaches, a whole host of gastrointestinal disorders, and pain: cannabis was frequently used to relieve the pain of childbirth.



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Redefining social norms the early Hippies of the 60's sowed the seed of Goa Trance Dance from which has mushroomed this amazing vibe of Oneness enveloping the entire planet now. 'Last Hippie Standing' is a beautiful documentary on the Goan Hippie Heaven Era and what has become of it today. With a strong campaign against the use of plant based psychedelics the Government keeps a majority of the population misinformed about plant based hallucinogens. The Shamanic use of psychedelics to attain altered states of consciousness is easily clouded behind the multi-billion charade called 'The War On Drugs'. With the rave culture from the last half of the 20th century having evolved into a Spiritual Gathering of the Tribes, there is more meaning and impetus to the awakening of our collective consciousness through the psychedelic trance dance initiation. With more conscious people awakening to the truth of Oneness, our future is being shaped right now through each one of our feelings, thoughts and actions affecting our collective reality.


Goa Gil speaks about his spiritual initiation when he came to Goa in the 60's. He traveled up north and practiced Yoga Sadhana for months, living with Himalayan Ascetics, Shiva Devotees (Shaivites) and other holy men who passed onto him teachings from the sacred Indian scriptures. Cleo Odzer, the author of the book, 'Goa Freaks My Hippie Years In India speaks of her journey on a Bus from Greece all the way through Afghanistan, Pakistan to Goa, India. DJ Whosane, shares with us the essence of the Trance Dance Experience and how it all began with Shiva's Dance. From the beaches of Arambhol to Anjuna, Hippie revellers and ravers are hard to miss with all the color, energy and vibes they radiate. Last Hippy Standing is a must see for everyone who is interested to know more about the Hippie Culture and how the whole trance dance megalomania began and why it is more than just a party ... much more than mere disco in the jungle ! It is a spiritual initiation when the self dissolves in oneness with the cosmic spirit ... !!! Om Namah Shivaya !!!




Download the Last Hippie Standing Free E-book ! (PDF)


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Goa emerged on the world scene back in the 60's with the 'Hippie Movement' which brought the western world to the beaches of Anjuna. Composed mostly of white teenagers and young adults between the ages of 15 and 25 years old, hippies inherited a tradition of cultural dissent from bohemians and beatniks of the Beat Generation in the late 1950s. Stories of Freaks in Goa and a slowly building counter culture made some enthusiasts hop onto an overland Bus leaving for Goa all the way from Europe (Greece). Disillusioned, disenchanted preferring an altered state of consciousness to the collective illusion the world embraces as 'Reality', they found home under the palm trees of Goa.

Staying in Goa was extremely affordable then and to the Hippies, money was always just a means to an end. They stayed and stayed and stayed even longer ... the community doubled, tripled, increased exponentially in very little time. So began a long ongoing chapter in the history of the psychedelic culture spawning a whole new generation into an alternate reality, a different world where anything was possible and all boundaries dissolved.


This is just one of the many ways of telling the story of Goa, the Hippies, the Freaks and a generation of hipsters being exposed to a plethora of substances which dramatically alter ones perception of the world and the nature of reality. This is where it starts to get a little chaotic as in those days there was little or no drug awareness among the users. People began experimenting with all kinds of potentially damaging substances namely Heroin & Cocaine with little or no understanding of it's effect on the mind, the body and the soul ! To support their needs and addictions, some Hippies began smuggling Drugs all the way to Europe and America for a good price, enough to help them sustain their erratic lifestyles and keep moving back and forth till sanity stays alongside, watching closely what's going on ! Those days, Hippies could be seen walking along the beaches of Arambol, Anjuna or Vagator sporting their birthday suits, openly having sex with their respective lovers or indulging in orgies while the music played on in the background. The Freak capital had become a twisted saga of Sex, Drugs & Rock n Roll ... The BoOmers were on a crescendo !




Over the years, as capitalism and globalization began making in roads everywhere, the locals and the Goan Government started to become increasingly less tolerant toward the Hippie attitude as it conflicts with the ethics and lifestyles of modern day society. The authorities were now coming on strongly against Nudism, Drugs and Loud Music being played around residential areas late into the night. Some Hippies hence chose the path of reform and got back to the regular city lifestyle and a day job, some became Sadhus and Sanyasis and some stayed back and are still seen dancing around the shacks of South Anjuna, namely Curlies and Shiva Valley. If you ever get a chance to speak to some of these willing old timers, you would know they have a whole lot to talk about and for good reason. With the slow death of the "Hippie Era", Goa's reputation as the Freak Capital never diminished, but evolved into the Monsterattes we see on News Channels and read about in the newspapers. Irresponsible use of drugs and sexual predation are closely linked in the darkness of our present times and it's only we who can change this and turn things around in a new direction we collectively envision.



A place once known by some as paradise, Goa today is over crowded with people from almost everywhere on this planet ! Mostly from other Indian states making there annual pilgrimage to Baga & Calangute checking out the scantily clad women folk and drinking unimaginable quantities of easily affordable alcohol while dangerously gyrating to electronic music they have never heard of. With this ever increasing population of seasonal tourists pouring into Goa each year, the crowd has literally overflowed into the once peaceful sanctuaries of Morjem, Vagator and Anjuna. As a result what we have here is a Van full of tourists at the junction, right before you take the left for the Flea Market looking for directions to any place where a party is happening. When told about Curlies from where we'd just left a FULL ON scene, heading toward Bamboo Forest, the boys say, "There was some weird electronic music going on there dude" .... so we promptly pointed toward the road heading back to Baga / Calangute. Hopefully, they found a place to hang-out where they didn't feel as alienated ! :)


This was 2 years ago, when Bamboo Forest was still on. Thanks to the residents living close to the mystical Bamboo Forest who are 'deeply disturbed' by nonstop loud music playing for long hours. Hilltop & 9 Bar, UV Bar, Shiva Valley are one of the few places where you get to see some major parties happening. If you have seen "Last Hippie Standing" you would remember a local expressing his valued opinion on the psychedelic trance music scene of Anjuna ...

He says, "170 beats per minute, it's CRAAAAAZZZZYYY !


The essence of Goa lies in the outdoors and any party / gathering / event organized in the limited confines of a man made shelter remains limited. The elements of nature most of us seem withdrawn from (sitting cozily on our bean bags, slouching lazily in our arm chairs) need to be simply reconnected with ! We need to strengthen our eternal connection with all that is ! With a little expansion of our limited awareness and taking responsibility of ourselves we can begin to create a better Goa we will live to see. People keep talking about what Goa used to be and what it has become today and all this talking isn't quite moving the psychedelic bandwagon any forward but looping it endlessly much to the annoyance of the free thinker and the world which needs a breath of fresh air, a much awaited change in the monotony of routine and chaos. What can we do ? We can revisit the basics of P.L.U.R, truly understand what it means and be the change we wish to see in the world. Not be silent spectators to injustice and misdemeanor of any kind.


Start Here & NOW .. forgive & allow ... leave the past behind, Goa is not a place, it's a state of mind !



This is Goa :D


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