Call it the Continuing Story of Bungalow Beatles.
Rishikesh is abuzz again with talk that Chaurasi Kutiya, former hub of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi and popularly known as the Beatles Ashram, is going to be renovated to attract fans of the British rock band.
Located within the Rajaji Tiger Reserve Park, the property is well-known across the world as the ashram where the four Beatles spent two months in 1968 learning transcendental meditation and writing some of their best-loved songs. The property now belongs to the forest department.
Park deputy director Mahatm Yadav said the idea was to develop the property for Beatles tourism. “We have written to the authorities to name an agency to prepare a development project report. We have earmarked a budget of Rs 92 crore,” Yadav said.
The 7.5-hectare ashram is now virtually in ruins but remains a huge attraction for Western tourists.
John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr had stayed in the ashram in February-March 1968. During this period, the group wrote 48 songs, many of them featured in their White Album, among them The Continuing Story of Bungalow Bill;Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da; and Blackbird.
The Beatles’ association with the Maharishi ended in bitterness, and Mahesh Yogi himself stopped visiting the ashram after afew years.
“Ringo stayed here for 10 days, Paul for five weeks and John and George for eight weeks,” said Raju Gusain, a Dehradun-based Beatles researcher.
The name Chaurasi Kutiya (84 cottages) is derived from the 84 yoga huts the property boasted.
Mahesh Yogi had acquired the property on a 20-year lease from the forest department on April 1, 1961. The lease was later extended. But the forest department took it back in 1999 after the Supreme Court said forestland shouldn’t be given away for private use.
A source in the Uttarakhand government said that after acquiring the ashram, the government closed it to tourists, and it became almost derelict. However, a part of it was later spruced up and the property was reopened to tourists in December 2015, he said.
“Some Beatles photos were put on display. But the government didn’t do anything to maintain the structure,” he said. “Under pressure from Beatles fans, the state government organised a festival here in 2018 to mark 50 years of the band’s arrival. Subsequently it did nothing to maintain the ashram. However, every year we hear that a survey is going on to develop the area.
“The government had earmarked ₹1.6 crore two years ago and hired an agency from Gujarat for a survey. We don’t know what happened thereafter. And now this fresh buzz about renovation.”
The source rued that “some of the top leaders of the state don’t even know that the Beatles were a group and not an individual”.
“While looking at a picture of the Beatles, a former chief minister once asked me which among the four was the Beatles,” he said.