ROUGH GUIDE TO PSYCHEDELIC INDIA

The psychedelic experience is integral to the history of the 1960s American underground. This was the era of Ken Kesey and his Merry Pranksters driving around in their brightly painted bus, indulging in The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test, swallowing hallucinogenic potions in search of altered mind-states. Bold free-thinkers led the nascent psychedelic movement, looking eastwards for esoteric and artistic inspiration. The first musical whispers of India's burgeoning influence on Western popular music were heard in 1965 when the Beatles' George Harrison added the sounds of a sitar to the Rubber Soul album track Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown). Soon everybody from The Yardbirds and The Rolling Stones to Sergio Mendes and The Byrds was reflecting an Indian influence. During these years in India, drug culture wasn't flooding it's shores, but the country was undergoing it's own transformation the 1960s saw the advent of a DIY garage band scene. Western rock imitations seamed through with r