#what happened in india

[franklyimissparis]

what do you mean ‘what happened in india between john and paul?’ THIS is what happened in india between john and paul

[baguette33]

this morning I was researching more info about "I'm so tired" (to be honest the whole white album has secrets we are yet to discover in my opinion) and stumbled across this

GUYS?!? WHO HAD A FARM IN 1968?!?

YOU'RE RIGHT FELLAS, IT'S PAUL MCCHARMLY 🗣️🗣️🗣️

I should probably sleep more.

[lenetaylor]

John Lennon's India Bracelets

GURU DEVA BRACELETS These bracelets were worn by John during and after his trip to India in February 1968 to visit and study with the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi at his International Academy of Meditation in Riskikeshi, where Guru Deva was one of the teachers. During the visit, John, his wife Cynthia and the other Beatles plus their partners were given the mantra 'jai guru dev om' to use in their daily meditations and John later used it in the song 'Across the Universe' which appeared on The Beatles' Let It Be album. The Beatles first met the Maharishi in Bangor, North Wales on August 25, 1967, two days before their long-time manager Brian Epstein was found dead at his London home. Later, disillusioned with the Maharishi, John would say, "We believe in meditation, but not the Maharishi and his scene. But that's a personal mistake we made in public," before adding, "I don't know what level he's on but we had a nice holiday in India and came back rested to play businessmen."

Scanned from Beatles Memorabilia: The Julian Lennon Collection, by Brian Southall and Julian Lennon, 2010

[get-back-homeward]

My queue was in the middle of 1968 India trip posts during the anniversary of Brian Epstein’s death and the statue unveiling, so it got me thinking about the connection of these two events.

It’s easy to forget the link between the two because they’re technically 6 months apart. But it feels underappreciated how much Brian’s specter looms large over the entire India trip. And not just because they delay the grief process several months in the name of Paul’s favorite coping mechanism. But because Brian dies the week they first meet the Maharishi:

Tuesday, August 22: The band’s first recording session since June; they record takes 1-8 of Your Mother Should Know

Wednesday, August 23: Recording take 9 of Your Mother Should Know and Brian stops by

Thursday, August 24: The Beatles first meet the Maharishi at a lecture in London. At the end of the day, they hold a press conference, get a 90-min private meeting with the Maharishi, and plan to go to Bangor, Wales for a 10-day training in Transcendental Meditation (TM) the next day.

Friday, August 25: They travel to Wales, the first time in years they’re traveling without Brian or Mal or Neil, and it’s chaotic; after they arrive, they get a message from Brian saying he will join them on Monday.

Saturday, August 26: Following a day of training, they renounce drugs in a press conference (well, LSD at least). Brian spur of the moment drives back to London from Kingsley Hill after the guests he invited for the weekend don’t make it.

Sunday, August 27: Brian dies from an overdose of sleeping pills the previous night; he’s found around noon, the Beatles are inducted into TM before the news about Brian reaches them. They had a private meeting with Maharishi about their grief (he talks about reincarnation and the need for positive thoughts about Brian to help this process). Then Paul goes back to London while John and George are forced to make a statement for reporters staked outside.

Monday, August 28: Paul presents the idea for the MMT film and convinces them to keep working rather than go to India now.

That’s one week.

Whether you want to look at it as fate, consequence, or coincidence, TM and Brian’s death are linked forever because of this timing. The simple act of losing Brian factors into the disparate grief reactions and subsequent burnout symptoms seen visibly in each band member after India and across the next year. But this timing would haunt anyone. And not just because those around Brian report him feeling jealous about their diverted attention toward the guru this week. Just dumb what ifs that grief can haunt your brain with: what if they hadn’t heard about the lecture, what if they hadn’t gone on the Bangor trip or had invited Brian to join them on the train, what if they hadn’t appeared on camera announcing they were giving up drugs because of the Maharishi’s influence, etc etc etc.

This link between TM and Brian’s death is especially worth considering for John, who I believe is the only one who ever directly expresses guilt over his death. This isn’t unique as he expressed guilt for all deaths around him in an opaque way believing he’s a curse on people he loves. But it also is understandable because he had some warning. Pete Shotton talks about a worrying tape message John receives from Brian a few days before. Brian’s father died only 6 weeks prior, and Brian’s secretary finds a suicide note dated just before that. There seems to be some uniformity among those closest to him at this time that while he may have been actively considering suicide earlier in the summer, he wouldn’t have after his father passed out of concern for his mother. Still, even with the idea it was all just a terrible accident, those dumb what ifs would creep up in a case like this.

When you add in that Bangor is a spur of the moment trip, that it’s the first one they’ve taken in years without Brian’s planning and guidance, and that telling Brian or inviting him to join them seems like an afterthought? Well, it’s not hard to see how that close link and the guilt that it inspires would have factored into John’s desperation for finding that answer in India. And his anger when it doesn’t deliver. It looks like a desperation to make a consequential choice matter. Searching for the answer to life guided by a holy man makes TM and the Bangor trip meaningful. It makes it important. But to a guilt-filled brain, the idea the man is a fraud means Brian died for nothing. It’s a 60 foot drop into the earth, nothing but a deep dark hole of emptiness.

Now add that John shares with Brian more than just a tendency for depression.

[ohblahdo]

I feel like maybe we've been sleeping on Maureen Starkey's ability to kill things just by glaring at them:

"John Lennon told the story of how one day Maureen, who had a great interest in things magical, could not stand the flies any more and gave them a thunderous black look and the flies dropped dead around her." - Many Years From Now (in reference to their trip to India)

[genderlessginger]

MY BRAIN: what if the dark-haired soulmate was G E O R G E?!?!

ME: you can’t just do this…

MY BRAIN: remember that may pang thing when George took off John’s glasses and was all I did everything you wanted

ME: sincerely. I -

ME: fuck.

(Pls help me Beatles tumblr this is a crisis)

[shehzadi]

the relationship between zionism, nazism, and hindutva in ‘hostile homelands’ by azad essa

[reflectismo]

1. They both look outstanding here, it boggles my mind that this was them at their most chaotic.

2. It looks like they both decided to colour-coordinate their outfits for the press conference, which makes them look even more outstanding and chaotic.

3. You see that tie Paul’s wearing? Why did I only just realise that’s the same tie John has wrapped around his head in Strawberry Fields Forever? So they were sharing clothes again? OK. Chaotic.

[sword-swallower-pin]

we're in such a strange era where men will just casually wax poetic for several paragraphs in mainstream media outlets about how john and paul were in love with each other but no one dares to explore the real questions (were they having gay sex? when were they having gay sex? what kind of gay sex were they having?) mate you're a journalist, do your job

[got-ticket-to-ride]

After a palpable silence, Paul said, "Well, that's an interesting one" also known as "slowly dying inside"

According to an article by the Daily Mail, this picture was taken by a fan on May 28, 1968. John Lennon coolly stares into the camera. Alongside him, George Harrison has in his shirt pocket a resignation letter from Paul McCartney – apparently written a full two years before he would eventually quit. Mr Herring says he took these intimate pictures of the Beatles after turning up uninvited on John’s doorstep, later sharing a car ride with him to George Harrison’s house to see the Beatles recording – and witnessing the opening of a letter said to announce McCartney’s resignation.

Could this have been Paul Mccartney's kneejerk reaction to having to listen to Two Virgins?

In his 1980 David Sheff interview John said: "After Yoko and I met, I didn’t realise I was in love with her. I was still thinking it was an artistic collaboration, as it were – producer and artist, right? We’d known each other for a couple of years." (also known as forcing myself to love someone to mend my broken heart because someone betrayed me)

As far timeline goes, John left India April 12, 1968. John then went to find his next best thing to "get back" at something someone did in India. In May 2, 1968 he made the "Two Virgins" tape with Yoko and presented it to his bandmates.

After a palpable silence, Paul said, “Well, that’s an interesting one.” ALSO NOW KNOWN AS "wait till I send you my resignation letter on May 28, 1968"

John then says: “You need to understand that this is where she and I are now. I don’t want to hold your hand anymore.” (this was directed to The Beatles - but we all know who it was for)

Ringo and George are just silent throughout the whole thing, because mother and father are fighting. And mother's heart is breaking.

So in conclusion, I want to hold your hand was their love song, huh.

[franklyimissparis]

all i want for christmas is the ghost of john lennon to appear in my room like in a christmas carol only instead of taking me through my life, he shows me what happened between him and paul mccartney in india

[handweavers]

reading about the history of the tin mines in sungai ujong and malay (esp minangkabau) peasant and chinese labourer resistance to british colonial rule in what is now negeri sembilan and how the malay ruling class weaponized communalism - ie. the classic "malay ethnic solidarity vs chinese and indians" in opposition to class solidarity - in order to get the malay peasantry to stop fighting british colonial rule and help the malay nobility profit from british imperial rule, to the detriment of the class interests of the majority of malays as well as those of chinese and indians in the region. tale as old as time

[vhstown]

its crazy how it's accepted that there's so many different types of white people but when it comes to POC and especially brown / desi people we're all just seen as like... indian or something . and not even indian just a stereotype of what people think indians are

[get-back-homeward]

John and Paul writing Ob-La-Di in India | Photos by Paul Saltzman

Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da was born on the steps of one of the low slung cottages where the entourage lived.

One day, remembers Saltzman, he was passing by the cottage when he saw Lennon and McCartney sitting on the front steps and strumming the tune on their acoustic guitars.

He ran back, picked up the camera and took pictures of the two with a pensive-looking Starr sitting on the side, from outside a wicket gate.

Saltzman remembers the two were singing the first two lines of the song "over and over again, going fast and slow, having fun". "That's the riff we have," McCartney told Saltzman, "but no words yet". [x]

[beatlepaul4ever]

Pattie’s shit stirring 🤣🤣

[avaetin]

Reyna: Why not get Jules-Albert to drive?

Jason: Who?

Nico: He's a French zombie chauffeur from dad.

Jason: I don't know if I should be jealous or afraid.

Aeon: Chaos, no. That zombie is a hazard behind the wheels. That time when we were in India-

Nico: It was one time.

Aeon: One time too many.