BeCoy - Memoirs of Hippie Girl in India

Memoirs of

A Hippie Girl

in India

BY ANN BECOY

Toronto, 2013

Memoirs of a Hippie Girl in India
Copyright 2013 BeCoy Publishing
Designed by Eric Mills Editing & Design
Cover design by Catherine Tammaro

Photos and graphics are from the authors own scrapbook and collections of the 1970s, are used with permission and/or are believed to be in the public domain. Where appropriate, the author has made strenuous efforts to determine copyright and obtain permission. For future editions, please notify of any errors or omissions.

Memoirs of a Hippie Girl in India
BeCoy, Ann (1953)
ISBN 978-0-9920383-0-4

BeCoy Publishing
153 Spadina Road
Toronto, Ontario
Canada M5R 2T9
www.annbecoy.com

Contents

Preface

WHILE OTHER TORONTO KIDS MY AGE were in college or grad school, I spent my nineteenth and twentieth birthdays in jail, getting a different kind of education. After pursuing a sudden and passionate romance, I quickly found myself becoming a world traveler and teen-aged drug smuggler. And that is an education in itself.

This story recounts my journey through the Middle East to India, then to Europe and back to India again. From the hippie beach in Goa, it brings you into the female side of Indias prison system and my personal transformation during three months in Bombay jails. Then the journey takes you to ashram and village life in rural India, to Simla and the Himalayas in northern India, and later to Kathmandu in Nepal.

I went from jail to ashram to jail to ashram. And I saw there wasnt a lot of difference between the two. As Baba Ram Dass said in Be Here Now, its all a question of perception.

In writing this piece of my life adventure, I wanted to portray a time and place unique in history, a place that was magical for a while. I feel blessed to have seen a side of India that no longer exists an India with 19th-century quaintness but largely free of Western culture. In other words, India when it was still Indian.

For young Westerners the early 1970s was a golden era when they could travel from Europe overland to India. People came in busloads, crossing without hassle through Turkey, Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan. By the hundreds they explored the mysticism of India and Nepal, pursued philosophy, learned Sanskrit or classical Indian music or dance, smoked hashish and opium, and slept naked.

So the story is about more than my adventures. I include other real characters from the scene, some of them known around the world, and real political events and the social climate of that time. But recalling events from forty years ago is difficult. Luckily, I had some notes, journals and photos, and others who were there at the time provided more. To the best of my ability, I recount actual facts and truths about the circumstances and the times. I have tried to be honest without embellishing the story. Indeed, as truth is sometimes stranger than fiction, this story really needs no embellishment.

But to fully evoke the time, place and events to accurately recreate the feeling of India and Nepal in the early 1970s I have told the story with a little imagination. Some people call this Creative Nonfiction; I just call it story telling. Because thats what Im doing telling a story without literary pretensions. In so doing I took some license. For example, some names are fictitious, to protect those whose current status I know nothing about. For the most part, however, I have used real names and real places and events, drawn from memory, my scant notes and writings of the period, and from recollections of other people who were there.

Any factual mistakes are entirely my own, and I apologize for them.

I have had the pleasure of support from a wonderful editor who helped research facts when I had only vague recollections, who corrected factual errors and clarified the story as well as fixed typos, punctuation and grammar. I could not have finished this project without his great assistance and insights.

Many would ask what possessed me to do some of the things I did. To which I answer: growing up a certain way I became a tremendous risk-taker. In so doing, I learned to survive a variety of difficult circumstances. In effect the metamorphosis I went through between 1972 and 1974 was a yoga of purification. But it was my foundation and my point of departure into a life fraught with further misadventures, and it gave me strength to endure some even greater hardships later.

Glossary

acha yes, I see

Acharya Divine one?

ahimsa non-violence

Allahabad holy city and site of Khumba Mela

Brahma Creator of the Universe; Supreme God; head of the Trinity

Brahmacharya pure one/celibate

baba (loosely) old one, uncle

bhakti yoga of absolute devotion

Bhagwan Supreme Lord

Bhagavad Gita sacred scripture recounting Krishna dialogue with Arjuna on the battlefield

burqa/burka Muslim womens garment completely covering the body, face and head

chillum conical pipe used to smoke hash

chillum baba one who smokes hash

charas hashish

Chandra moon goddess

chai milky spicy tea

coolies porters (who carry bags and luggage)

dhotara two-stringed drone instrument

Durga major Hindu goddess

Diwali festival of lights

ek one

ektara one-stringed drone instrument

Farsi of Persian descent

fakir wandering mendicant, usually an entertainer

ghee clarified butter used in cooking and ceremonies

harmonium wind and key instrument similar to accordions

Hanuman a humanoid monkey god

harem (Arabic) womens quarters

Hoogley River in Calcutta

Howrah Bridge famous bridge spanning the Hoogley River

Jai (as in Jai Ram) praise (e.g., to Ram, or Jai Krishna: Praise to Krishna)

-ji suffix denoting fondness/ familiarity as in Mahara-ji, Mata-ji, Sunanda-ji

Kali fierce black warrior goddess

Kama Sutra yoga of erotic tantric sex

kapalubhati intense yoga breathing technique

kartel Indian temple bells (brass)

Kashatriyas caste designation second to Brahmins

kundalini subtle snake-like energy that travels up the spine through the chakra system

kurta mens long-sleeved loose shirt-like garment

kriya yoga yoga of deep introspection

lathi brass-tipped wooden baton used by police

lingam (as in Shiva lingam) phallic symbol

Leela . the illusory play of life

lunghi mens wraparound garment worn like a skirt

Maharaja Great King

Maharanee Great Queen

Maharishee Great Saint

Mahavatar Great Soul

Meher Baba a popular living guru in 1972

mehta chief/prince; high-caste Brahmin (loosely respect)

mudras yoga hand symbols (used in classical dance)

namaste greetings, hello (literally I salute the light within you)

Pondicherry home of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother (also name of a city)

prasad or prasadum vegetarian food offered to Krishna and blessed

Ram seventh avatar of Vishnu (followed by Krishna)

Rajasthan place of Rajas before British occupation/princely states

rajput prince

samosa deep-fried potato-filled snack sold everywhere in India

Sarada female saint; chaste partner of Sree Ramakrishna of Santinikitan

Santinikitan sacred site of Kali Temple near Calcutta

Shiva third god in the trinity: Brahma, Vishnu, Shiva

Simla beautiful Himalayan region in the north in Himachel Pradesh

siddhis miraculous powers

tantra yoga of extreme indulgence and austerities

Tat Wala Baba wandering saint in Rishikesh (see photo page )

Vedas holy scriptures more than 2,000 years old

Vishnu Sustainer of the Universe; second in the triad of Brahma, Vishnu, Shiva