The different souls

Call them modern day hippies or not, these set of people’s life differ substantially from those in the mainstream. They have chosen an alternate path that provides them ultimate freedom to roam around and learn things that a usual person fails to notice in their busy lives. After the counterculture movements of 1960s and 70s, most of us thought they are extinct. But there are still a few youngsters living among us who set out to explore themselves to live a life that is interwoven with happiness and simplicity. Meet the youngsters, who have defied the odds to take up a completely different lifestyle in search of elusive truth and to understand the meaning of life as it is.

For a common man it is hard to understand Navas Bayan. And it is equally hard for Bayan to understand the life of a common man. “I always wonder how people repeat their lives so happily. They study, get a job, marry someone and die. This is the same pattern I see in everyone’s life. My philosophy is that I am born on this beautiful planet called Earth and I should see most of the places before I die. I don’t understand how a person can live their entire life in a small locality, confined to the prisons they have created for an entire lifetime.”

To live this kind of life you should forgo some luxuries and pleasures but the trade off is bountiful, says Bayan. “Wherever I go, that place is my home. I live a simple life. That makes me happy. I have been learning a lot during travels and I do the jobs I like in order to cover my expenses.  Every day I learn something new. That is keeping me busy and happy. And wherever I go, there are friends. I love this life a lot and I can’t dream a life that confines a person to a house for his lifetime," he says.

Initially his lifestyles was opposed by parents but soon they understood that their son’s happiness cannot be tied to the daily routine of the majority. Bayan is married to an Austrian, Valentina, whom he met during his travels. “We make and sell handicrafts and traditional jewellery. We also conduct workshop for children wherever we go. Our life is not stressful and that makes us happy.”

Bayan and his wife are environmentalists, who love nature and care for it as their own children. “I understood the importance of nature during my journeys and this has made us eco-friendly. Life is better and calm when we go green. Our plan is to live close to nature,” says Bayan, who is planning to distribute tree saplings to school children next month at Thalassery. Bayan has strong reservations about people calling him hippy. “I have not categorised myself as a hippy or anything. I am living as what I am. I am just a human being,” he explains.

Legin Ravi had started his travel one year ago and his journey became philosophical with more of existential queries later on. “I got addicted to travel and decided to go on a long trip. However, it got extended and it has become a self enquiry — why I exist? It can be termed as spiritual and I am searching for answers wherever I go. I have spent several months in monasteries and meeting people. But I desist from being called hippy. It is more sort of a self-enquiry,” he says.

The traveller, who is now in a monastery in Himachal Pradesh, feels that after he embarked on the trip, which continues until now; start to understand human beings more. “I learned how to behave in a neutral way. Maybe you can say I have become more social after connecting with so many different people. I can understand that in every human there is innocence. But they can’t recognise it yet and their life situation makes them selfish. My perception of life has changed entirely since the start of the journey,” says Ravi with a calm and tender voice.  

Everything was at odds when Manju Manoharan decided to resign her well-paid job in Bengaluru and go on a hippy trail all over India. She was depressed, over-stressed and out of creativity after choosing a wrong career. “I am a free spirit. And when I was confined to a job that I call as a forced career, I quit and started the journey. I could not fit into the usual social norms and I thought why give a chance to explore the unexplored? Now after a couple of journeys, I feel I have communicated more to the world, got more guts in opposition to the spoon-fed childhood I had and moreover an avid reader. Now I am interested in real humans more than the masked faces, what we see daily. And moreover, for me now there is no concept of watch. It is a free world out there for me to explore without any restrictions,” says Manju.

It was really hard to get in touch with these set of people, who have shunned mobile phones and all contact with their friends while travelling. Even if a contact is made, it was only after several persuasions, you may get to speak to these set of people. The lure of exploring unknown and a definite opposition to conventional life in the society have led these people to opt for a calm and peaceful life and they don't want it interrupted or stereotyped.