Beatles Ashram

I remember a small headline - a news item in the 80s when I was 15 - a Christian evangelist shoots down John Lennon screamed the paper. While the world was upended, those words barely caused a tremor in mine. My Beatles journey hadn’t yet begun.

My foray into Western music coincided with my Engineering college entry. From then onwards, I listened in rapt attention to the undeniably inspiring words and sounds of several great artists, including The Beatles.

Music stayed with me throughout college, marriage, and kids. Our son developed a great interest in Western music, and interestingly, he didn’t seem bogged down by the decade or genre. He listened with a keen ear, curiosity, and a now-alien youthful desire to provide wide-eyed commentary on the artistic liberties used by each musician to produce that work of art. A repeat flick here, an innovative bass line there, the intricacies in each piece of work were dwelled upon and appreciated. 

In 2023, he returned to India for that usual H1B stamping, one of the draconian policies subjecting numerous children to biannual (& expensive) trips to their home country. We decided to hop over to Rishikesh for a whitewater rafting experience during this visit. He excitedly pointed out that Maharishi Mahesh Yogi’s Ashram, the venue for 48 songs that would become the Fab 4’s White Album, had reopened under the Forest Department’s purview and insisted on visiting it. Another 40-minute drive and the 20-minute tour would not disrupt our plans, so we decided to go along.

After a refreshing, exhilarating, and strenuous 16km journey down the Ganges, we descended into the urban chaos that is Tier 3 Indian cities. We swerved through the honking UK, UP, DL & HR license plates, avoided the two-wheelers carrying 25 tons of milk, rested behind the unwelcome tractors, and finally arrived at the front gate of our destination.

We bought the 150 INR ticket (a bit steep, I thought, at that time ! )

The initial impressions were favorable - the place was clean, paved, and tasteful. There was a steep slope on a winding paved pathway, flanked on the right by bee hive-inspired solitary meditation enclosures and on the left by decaying structures vaguely resembling individual rooms. Each room was equipped with a kitchenette and a stairway that led to a bathroom in full view of the fauna of the Rajaji forest. At this point, I must confess that this is all speculation — the forest had taken over every stone structure, perhaps a poignant metaphor for “Nature finds a way.”

One could enter these rooms, and we dared to, bending past a tree enveloping the structure in its wake. This time we confirmed the small kitchenette, a toilet, and a room. The tiger reserve, in its abundant verdant greenery, could be seen through the windows that housed only the frame now. The image of a cold, dreary, and wet London that one can only describe as grey flashed before my eyes before readjusting to the present lush flora. How the Fab 4 must have felt upon first encountering this wild space back then!

As we ventured deeper into this mystical site, we encountered graffiti strewn across the weathered stone, adorned with individual rocks from the Ganges, bearing the Insta handles of each artist, trying to represent what it might have been like in 1968. The light coming in trickles via the towering deciduous trees inspired several self-included visitors to indulge in a personal craving for Insta fame.

We walked past similar structures, each begging for us to peep inside, and came about a small square, to the left of which was a banyan tree. There was an old familiar red-colored Indian Post office box. Two roads diverged here, and we chose the one more trodded on, walking around the exhibition hall with Paul Selztmann photos of the Beatles during their stay, dressed colorfully in their Indian clothes, images of each distinct animal from the region, and finally, one replete with MMY trivia. In a cruel twist, the section reserved for MMY’s international TM attendees was closed off.

We were amazed at the delightfully dilapidated condition of the place. It was buzzing with energy; almost everyone visiting burst into song, any song. Every nook and corner was worth a pic. There was some astounding graffiti, and the layout was stunningly ruined. It served to kindle up nostalgia and memories of the past. Old forgotten tunes came to mind; some lost trivia was warmly spoken about, and the animated discussions helped to bond the people connected in time and space at that instant.

We walked past an old Post Office building, a kitchen that proclaimed it served only vegetarian food, a house for international guests, private living quarters, MMY’s house, and many more structures perilously close to extinction. There were rooms designed using yogic postures and 84 meditation caves.

We entered a hall with large walls on either side adorned by colorful posters of the four members, including MMY, at the center. This room was electric and prompted us to linger. There was also another hall (Let it Be) with no roof designed to elevate.

It was one of our best explorations. We spent around 2.5 hours and hadn’t explored it all. Worth every buck of the 150 we spent. We also were left suitably chastened and resolved to listen to the young generation more carefully in the future!

We close with a final shot of Rishikesh with the free-flowing, abundant Ganga from the Let it Be Hall and earnestly pray these words to ring true forever for this place.

More interesting Beatles India stories appear in the below link-

https://www.rollingstone.com/feature/the-beatles-in-india-16-things-you-didnt-know-203601/

Copyright .. Arvind Viswanat, Sanchit Ram Arvind