INDIA

The sixties is a thing of the past but thankfully, the hippies aren’t. These vibrant and peace loving folks are still around, celebrating and ‘tripping’ on life the way they want it to be. The hippie culture and influence has been present in "India" for centuries, now. They’re still living it up to the idea of free spirit- the Indian style!! So if you are on the look out to experience the ‘hippie-dom’, you’ve come to the right country. The peaceful location and glorious herbs will leave you in a trance.

GOA

Of course; this is the original hippie getaway. Come here, get soaked in the sun and let yourself be lost in the amalgamation of cultures. Known for its beautiful beaches, you can lose yourself in trance, house, or the much loved psychedelic music. Turning hippie here comes naturally no matter which beach you’re on; though the Anjuna and Vagator beaches are known for their night long raves. Now, you’ll know why they say that old hippies don’t die. They just pack their bags and come to Goa.

Goa is a state in western India with coastlines stretching along the Arabian Sea. Its long history as a Portuguese colony prior to 1961 is evident in its preserved 16th-century churches and the area’s tropical spice plantations. Goa is also known for its beaches, ranging from popular stretches at Baga and Palolem to laid-back fishing villages such as Agonda.

Goa features a tropical monsoon climate under the Köppen climate classification. Goa, being in the tropical zone and near the Arabian Sea, has a hot and humid climate for most of the year. The month of May is the hottest, seeing day temperatures of over 35 °C (95 °F) coupled with high humidity. The monsoon rains arrive by early June and provide a much needed respite from the heat. Most of Goa's annual rainfall is received through the monsoons which last till late September. Goa has a short winter season between mid-December and February. These months are marked by nights of around 21 °C (70 °F) and days of around 28 °C (82 °F) with moderate amounts of humidity. Further inland, due to altitudinal gradation, the nights are a few degrees cooler.

Goa International Airport, is a civil enclave at INS Hansa, a Naval airfield located at Dabolim near Vasco da Gama. The airport caters to scheduled domestic and international air services. Goa has scheduled international connections to Doha, Dubai, Muscat, Sharjah and Kuwait in the Middle East by airlines like Air Arabia, Air India, GoAir, Indigo, Oman Air, SpiceJet, Jet Airways  and Qatar Airways.

Goa's public transport largely consists of privately operated buses linking the major towns to rural areas. Government-run buses, maintained by the Kadamba Transport Corporation, link major routes (like the Panjim–Margao route) and some remote parts of the state. In large towns such as Panjim and Margao, intra-city buses operate. However, public transport in Goa is less developed, and residents depend heavily on their own transportation, usually motorised two-wheelers and small family cars.

 Goa has four National Highways passing through it. NH-66 (ex NH-17) runs along India's west coast and links Goa to Mumbai in the north and Mangalore to the south. NH-4A running across the state connects the capital Panjim to Belgaum in east, linking Goa to cities in the Deccan. The NH-366 (ex NH-17A) connects NH-66 to Mormugao Port from Cortalim. The new NH-566 (ex NH-17B) is a four-lane highway connecting Mormugao Port to NH-66 at Verna via Dabolim Airport, primarily built to ease pressure on the NH-366 for traffic to Dabolim Airport and Vasco da Gama. NH-768 (ex NH-4A) links Panjim and Ponda to Belgaum and NH-4. Goa has a total of 224 km (139 mi) of national highways, 232 km (144 mi) of state highway and 815 km of district highway. Via railways, it is quite easy to reach Goa as the major railway stations in Goa are located in Margao. The main railway station is known as Madgaon and Vasco Da Gama. These railway stations are well linked with Mumbai and then other major parts of the country as well.

Accommodation in Goa is plentiful with a variety of hotels, resorts and guest houses to suit every budget and every taste. There are simple and bare rooms available for the thriftiest of back-packers and five-star deluxe luxury suites for those that want to indulge their fancies. Almost all round the year, travellers are usually assured of finding a room - if not in a hotel, then at least in a private house. However, come the peak season of December and January, you are likely to experience problems, unless you book your rooms well in advance. A number of travellers, especially foreigners, prefer to spend a fairly longer period of time from a month to as many as six months at the leisurely pace of life in Goa. For such a stay, it is best to rent houses or rooms by the month, or season. Rents usually vary from area to area and even village to village, but you can expect to get accommodation for around Rs 3500/- to Rs 5000/- a month depending upon the season and the facilities included in the cost. It is also worth considering sharing such long stay accommodation with two or three people so as to bring down the costs. Most importantly, reserve such long-term accommodation well in advance to get a good bargain as most such houses and rooms are rented by visitors who return to the same house year after year and as such get first preference.

Goa has always been linked with the hippie culture that spread through the US and other countries back in the 60's.

Funnily enough though the movement has faded away in most parts of the world or at least seems to have less relevance, the pocket that has remained in the state is still alive and kicking. Perhaps this has a lot to the with the state’s own susegad (relaxed) culture where being happy, living life at a slow pace and “enjoying the moment” are still ingrained in Goa. For those who live in the hub-bub of Delhi or Bombay, Goa attracts the corporate banker looking for a two-day break, the IT consultant who wants to switch offline for a few days or even the newly divorced 30-something looking for a dirty weekend.

So what’s the deal between Goa and Hippies?

The first hippies arrived to Goa at the end of the 60th of the last century and stayed for a long time on the beaches of Anjuna, Vagator and Baga that have fascinated them. Goa attracted young people with the cultural isolation, beauty of the tropical nature and the atmosphere of spirituality reigning there. They felt free, released from fetters of conservative morals of old Europe. It’s a good, simple, uninterrupted life. No buses in the rain, no cramped tubes and no work deadlines or annoying bosses. Of course, the simple life means a more modest salary. But for foreigners who have savings or houses in their home country, the falling rupee is great.

Regardless, the 2013 “hippie” is a very different animal from his 60's variety. The 60's hippie was part of a larger movement – Woodstock, Vietnam, Lennon, spiritualism whereas the 90's hippie is essentially a flawed or disturbed specimen – looking for something that’s missing in his/her life and trying to fill a void. There’s a lot less “live and let live” and more “I need to find another way to live”.

Well, whether it’s the hippie who’s been here since 1969 or a newbie, Goa continues to remain a home for this group. And as with most issues in the state, if you keep a low profile, do your thing and are generally polite and friendly, no one’s going to bother too much – which is just what everybody loves. The alternative way of life inspired by ideas of the peace, love and travel, hippies have deep impact on world culture. Goa is the one of the few places where old hippies continue to live and collect the sunshine.

At first the hippie tourism in Goa was limited to several groups of the young people playing music and smoking a pot round the fire on a beach. The population of Goa remained if not indifferent, then slightly curious to “naked white golden-haired people on a beach”, according to an old Goan from Vagator. The meetings and the parties arranged by the growing mass of arriving hippies began to attract young audience from all over the world. In the 80th instead of a simple fire came huge full moon parties, instead of psychedelic rock — electronic music, and instead of hashish — opium and heroin from North India. With it began the problems: the number of addicts and fatal cases from overdose began to increase. Goa gets the world fame as paradise for addicts and admirers of techno music. Then the protest movement of the Goan families followed, anxious about safety of the children. 

The hippies who have got used to nakedness had to put on. Today many of them continue to live in Goa and often gather with friends to share nostalgic memories of romanticism irretrievable passed 60th.

This is an all time famous documentary showing the hippie trail in Goa..!!

Last but not the least.....For those totally weird hippies who just want to sink into their own space and dimension....here's what you should check out perhaps..!!!

11 Secret Beaches in Goa

See You Soon...On Another Famous Hippie Location

Until Then...NAMASTE...

#Trotterhipp