I had read about it, heard about it, and now I got a glimpse of it when I watched ‘Last Hippie Standing,’ a 45-minute documentary on the psychedelic revolution that existed in Goa without any intervention of the government or media in the 60s and 70s. It took me on a different trip, of what was and what it is right now.

This post is a tribute to Goa, that showed the way to many in the past. As its rightly said in the documentary, “Goa is not a place, its a state of mind.” At least it was…

The documentary, which is made by a German guy Marcus Robbin, is in search of the last hippies remaining out of the many who gave up their materialistic lifestyle in search of something more meaningful, and found that solace in the peaceful environs of Goa.

It starts with a local taxi driver explaining the rules of driving in India, which is humorous. Then begins the writer’s quest to talk to the last few hippies remaining in Goa.

He speaks to Goa Gill, the trance DJ, who shares his experience 30 years ago. These are few lines of what Goa Gill said about his hippie days -

“I began to understand how high you can really take people with music; you can give them a spiritual experience. You can take them to divine places, uplift their consciousness, open them up and give them a transfer of this power. Dance is active meditation, when we dance we go beyond thought, beyond mind, and beyond our own individuality – to become one in the divine ecstasy of union with the cosmic spirit. “

The documentary also showed people who opposed the idea of hippies staying in Goa, without the actual understanding of their culture. Like the Chief minister of Goa in 1999, when the documentary was made, was Francisco Sardinha, who obviously spoke like a politician. In his words,

“I have seen these people (hippies) coming with practically no money, I have heard people surviving only on few coffees, they use to have one or two rupees, we don’t want poor people, we want rich people to come and enjoy here, we have enough poverty, we don’t want people to add to our poverty…I don’t know what their culture was of the hippies, but they were not spending money, we want people who can spend and live a good life.”

Of course, things aren’t the same anymore, its commercialised, which has tarnished the image, but for some it still remains a place of spiritual fulfillment.

Watch the Last Hippie Standing
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Tags: Goa, Last Hippie Standing, Movies