DEHRADUN: Exactly 50 years ago, in February, 1968, The Beatles arrived in Rishikesh searching for ‘peace’ which they hoped to find through the ‘Transcendental Meditation’ technique taught by their guru Maharishi Mahesh Yogi at his ashram ‘Chaurasi Kutia’ on the banks of the Ganga. As both the UK and Uttarakhand governments initiate lavish programmes to mark the Fab Four’s Rishikesh sojourn — the International Yoga Festival which begins on March 1 in Rishikesh will have three days dedicated to the Beatles’ visit — a look back at the trip reveals why it was such a pivotal point in the quartret’s musical career.The Beatles had initially planned to visit India in October 1967. The trip was intented to be a ‘healing one’ to recover from the sudden death of their manager Brian Epstein who was found dead in his London home on August 27, 1967. However, the visit was pushed back by a few months and when the group eventually arrived in Rishikesh in mid-February of 1968 accompanied by their wives, girlfriends and assistants, the Transcendental Mediatation course conducted by the maharishi was already in its third week. Among the other high-profile attendees of the course were actress Mia Farrow and her sister Prudence (who later inspired the song ‘Dear Prudence’).As the guru’s star pupils, the musicians were given a royal treatment. American socialite Nancy Cooke de Herrera who was staying in the ashram during this time wrote in her book, ‘All You Need Is Love’, “The Maharishi obtained many special items from a nearby village so that The Beatles’ rooms would have mirrors, wall-to-wall carpeting, curtains, foam mattresses and bedspreads. By the standard of the other accommodation in the ashram, The Beatles' cottages looked like a palace.” It was on the rooftop of George Harrison’s cottage, wrote author Joshua M Greene in the book Here Comes the Sun: The Spiritual and Musical Journey of George Harrison, the musicians gathered after dinner “to listen to the flowing sound of the Ganga, play records and strum a guitar or sitar.”For the group, the Rishikesh sojourn was one of their most creative during which they penned almost 40 songs most of which made it to ‘The White Album’. (Among those that didn’t was the catchy ‘Doon Doon Dehradun,’ their ode to the nearby valley town which they visited briefly for checking out instruments at a musical store). Even though they made music like never before, those were tumultuous times for The Beatles. Yoko Ono had entered John Lennon's life and Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr and Harrison had begun protesting her interference in the group's affairs. Arguments broke out regularly but at Rishikesh, recalled Canadian filmmaker Paul Saltzman who was in the ashram with them during this time, “the Beatles were very close and tight.”Many Beatles experts now feel that instead of being the trigger that led to the group’s split in 1970 as is popularly believed, the Rishikesh visit worked like an "interlude." “Had it not been for the trip, the band would have likely separated in 1967, right after the death of their manager and father-figure Brian Epstein," Philip Norman, author of Shout!: The Beatles in Their Generation, regarded as one of the most definitive biographies of The Fab Four,said during a session at the Jaipur Lit Fest in January. “Epstein would care for them like a father and once he wasn't there John said, 'that's it! it's over!' So coming to Rishikesh was bit of an interlude and they went back to making more songs," Norman told the audience at the session "Magical Mystery Tour: The Beatles in India".Although they didn’t stay on for the full duration of the course — Starr was the first to leave after 10 days attributing it to the ‘impossible food’, Mc Cartney left after a month and Harrison and Lennon after almost two months allegedly disillusioned by the maharishi — the visit by the iconic musicians has assumed an iconic status of its own, inspiring music lovers and Beatles fans to make a pilgrimage to Rishikesh.

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