What is the definition of a 'hippy'? I'm just curious because I've been discussing it lots recently, so I wanted to get your opinion too. I have spent the best part of a year in India now, and I know perceptions of this amazingly huge country vary enormously, from tourists scared to death by all the noise, rubbish, and attention-craving friendliness, individuals from around the world (usually aged 18-24 or 45+), who've come to 'find themselves' and take up a new life of spirituality, to the drunken youngsters finishing off their South East Asia tour, (with their garish elephant pants glued on), to the 5 star hotel guests who experience a world I can only imagine. There's one more group of lost nomads I also seem to meet regularly, the unfortunate souls from India and abroad who are travelling and socialising because they actually love it, but for whatever reason genuinely don't have a place they call home or any money in their back pocket.
I spent 6 weeks in Rishikesh last October and filled my mind and body with intense yoga practise, vegan food and healing energies. Some friends in England have called me a 'wannabe hippy' for my love of travel and stereotypically, yoga, particularly Indian and Asian culture. I don't profess to be a hippy in any way, but maybe I am? It seems to be a very subjective noun, and the more I discuss it the more conflicted I get. Yes I have veered from societal expectations of my childhood in South East England, but I also couldn't categorise myself somewhere else. Does that make me more, or less of a hippy? Last year I met a German traveller in Hampi who made my friend and I pretty angry. He started his dialogue by describing a hippy as someone who doesn't wash, and basically lives like a pig in mud. It got us thinking though about how to justify our own lives without encouraging a negative stereotype however (a bit like my discussion on the use of the word 'feminism'). So after this I looked up the Internets' definition of a hippy and the description was something along the lines of: 'An individual, most common in the 60s and 70s, who had long hair and wore beads'. I'm not sure who felt they had the authority to write this, but my guess is it certainly wasn't someone who has experienced a culture different to their own. A true 'hippy' is hard to define. Is it someone who only eats vegan, organic food, uses natural products for clothes, shoes and shower gel, and (crucially), lives in a van? Or perhaps it's someone (as we often joke), who got a lot of money from mummy and daddy so feel they don't need to work or provide for themselves or society? Or maybe, it's just someone who breaks away from societal norms? Remember, every culture and society have different 'norms', and that I guess is the essence, that every single one of us has grown up with different problems and privileges, so we are all continuing to grow slightly differently too. And that is why, in my view, a 'hippy' cannot be defined, because an epoch, a grouping of humans, is almost impossible where no two are the same anyway.
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There is one pretty regular and I guess legitamate question I get asked by other travellers, friends and family about my slightly unorthodox lifestyle so I thought I'd dispel some intrigue/concern here. Firstly, as exciting as it might be, no I don't sell drugs, my body or any other illegal and black market trade to fund my travels! It might sound crazy but I do actually work! It may not be your idea of work but it is enough for me to live my day-to-day life, wake up happy and be able to explore and experience something new everyday, without dreading Mondays or complaining and whinging about excessive workloads (as it's been reminded to me many times, we English have an unfortunate tendency to do).
Over the last 2 years I've spent at least 75% of my time working on a voluntary basis. Usually in return for food and accomodation which to be honest is all I need! For example in 2016 I worked in Sri Lanka for 9 months. I didn't earn a penny, but I spent approximately £300 per month. Nothing in comparison to a month in London hey. I worked for 2 and a half years before this in a UK graduate job and supplemented this meagre Local Government wage with evenings as a ballet teacher and weekends as a waitress, cleaner and anything else to make me a few precious pennies. I've always been pretty frugal, and this enabled me to save enough for Sri Lanka. Now I could have just given this amazing international mental health organisation the £300 a month I was spending as a donation, but I'd much prefer to give my time. I'm young, free and single and have too much energy to be sitting back in a chair sending money when I could be on the front line actually working with these people. Now in Goa I currently run a jewellery and clothes stall at a weekly market. I may not earn much, but it's enough to feed me for at least 4 days of the week, and most importantly, I enjoy it! I'm teaching friends yoga and guitar for fun and voluntarily helping my friends set up a smoothie and snack bar. These luxuries I can afford for fun, because the cost of living is so low. I didn't spend any money on rent for 6 months this year by volunteering my time in return for accomodation, which is enough payment for me! When an average meal is £2, and a whole tank of petrol for my scooter roughly £3 (I fill up about once a week), hopefully you can start to see how I manage to spend my life here. Yes I could work a graduate job and have a nice car and wardrobes full of clothes, but comparatively I wouldn't have much more in my pocket because the cost of living in Europe is so high. So alongside some fortunate and clever long-term investments and a few pennies here and there I get by with no problem. My main outgoings that I cover from my savings are my £110 a month rent and £50 per month scooter rental, otherwise my low food (and party) costs are covered by the bits and pieces of work I do in Goa. For now one rucksack full of clothes, my university laptop and a pretty basic smartphone are all the material possessions I need in the world, and with some of the best beaches and friends I won't be swapping this lifestyle anytime soon! |
About meI enjoy writing and have had experience from my degree and through working on news posts. I hope to use this blog as a summary of extraordinary things I've discovered or witnessed in everyday life. Archives
March 2020
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