10/01/2022
A bus service from London (UK) to Calcutta (India)? Were they kidding? How could they travel across continents? These are some quick questions which might pop into our minds when we look at this vintage photograph. Well, it is a true photo, as the bus service indeed existed half a century ago.
It goes back all the way to 1960s, when the Hippie culture was making huge inroads throughout the world, with most American & European youngsters suddenly having the urge to temporarily move away from their "modern" world, towards spiritual destinations like India. It was during such Hippie revolution when this bus was launched by a private travel agency to fulfill the travel needs of hippies.
Interestingly, the ticket was priced at 85 pounds, and would take almost 2 months to cover the whopping distance of 16,000 km. Each night, they would arrange for accommodation at small hotels, or just setup their own tents & campfire out in the open and spend their time singing & dancing. After traversing through Europe & Middle East, it would finally reach India, through major stops at several spiritual places including Varanasi, and finally halt at Calcutta for few days, before resuming the return journey to London.
As curious readers, we can definitely admire such extensive & innovative travel modes, but as Indians, the biggest takeaway for us, is to note that youngsters from all over the world used to travel for months, to experience the spiritual aura of India, whereas our youngsters over the decades, have been ignorant of our own strengths (spiritual). Probably it is high time we highlight these aspects so that our future youngsters stop obsessing about the west, and proudly embrace our own civilizational values which have successfully sustained for over 10,000 years and has become a shining beacon for rest of the world.
