Bell bottom pants, rock music, guys with long hair and cigar in hand, guitars and bikes� It was a time when youngsters sought to free themselves from societal restrictions, chose their own ways, and found new meanings in life. Yes, you are right� It is Hippie culture.

A youth movement that began in the United States during the early 1960s and broaden roughly to most parts of the world! Indian youth of the 1970's also took a share of the pie when the real hippie movement died down in the U.S.A. But thankfully the hippie culture did not reach more than changing their fashion statement, unlike U.S.A! The personality traits of an Indian hippie is probably casting its shadow on today's youth. Hippie fashions and values made them drift away from their culture, got addicted to the Beatles music or led Zeplin!

"Like today going to a pub or a discotheque is considered new, it was time when youngsters smoking or wearing jeans and maintaining long hair was considered against the norm. But the age is so that we experimented with those new styles" Says Sudhakar, youth of the hippie period.

Hippies often chose brightly colored clothing and wore unusual styles, such as bell-bottom pants, vests, tie-dyed garments, peasant blouses, and long, full skirts; head scarves, headbands and long beaded necklaces. All this style quotients are taking a round again to complete the circle. The retro fashion of wearing long skirts is quite popular among Chennai girls today. All this quite obviously reached youngsters through movies, as the Indian Hippies lacked access to other media options.

"Movies to a great extent played a vital role in handing over the hippie culture to the youth. The Zeenat Amaan style was quite popular. Though not to a large extent, it was definitely considered a gauging meter of one's style. This type of lifestyle variation is true even today. Today's youngsters get anorexic while trying to diet or go partying all through night. Anything out of the erected system can be considered a shadow of hippie culture" Says Chitra.

Every thing which is out of the box and slightly revolutionary can be considered to an off-shoot of hippie. "Indian Hippies where a modified version of the real time Americans who were a part of this clan! Though not as discernible as it once was, hippie culture has never died out completely: hippies still exist in many places but their identity does not garner as much attention as it used to before" notes Joseph, an alumni of Madras Christian College.

SOWJANYA.S