1969 was the year I began my career as a journalist with a leading Indian daily. That was also the year when a memorable event called The Woodstock Festival took place in a far-away rural town of Bethel, New York, and caught my fancy.
As The Independent recalls: “Performers flying in on helicopters – a portentous sight in the Vietnam era – food and drinks spiked with LSD, acts going on 14 hours or a day late, the myth and legend of Woodstock has remained a potent signifier for baby-boomers ever since.
“It has served as the backdrop to films like A Walk on the Moon, directed by Tony Goldwyn in 1999, and starring Diane Lane and Viggo Mortensen, and Ang Lee’s forthcoming comedy Taking Woodstock.
“Best remember the original Woodstock as Jefferson Airplane singer Grace Slick does. ‘So much of Woodstock’s appeal was the chance to simply come together and touch what we knew had already taken birth. It was our turn’, she writes in Somebody to Love?, her autobiography.
” ‘We were ready to breathe, ready to celebrate change. I really believed the whole world would look like that in about sixteen years – the different skin colours weaving in and out of the tapestry, the unrestricted language and lack of cultural animosity, and the beautiful power of our main language: rock’n’roll.
” ‘Did the gigantic dream work? It not only worked, it remains a magnificent symbol of an era. We are all accustomed to big outdoor concerts these days; they’ve become part of our culture. Not so in 1969.
” ‘Today, the mere name Woodstock immediately conjures an image of a specific point in time where for four days and nights in the spirit of acceptance, celebration, and profound ritual, wherever we were, we were all different – and we were all the same’.”
To celebrate the 40th anniversary of Woodstock, Woodstock: 40th Anniversary Edition is out now as a four-disc DVD and a two-disc Blu-ray on Warner Home Video. Music from the Original Soundtrack and More and Woodstock Two are out now on Rhino. The six CD-box set, Woodstock 40, will be out on 17 August on Rhino. More here…
Swaraaj Chauhan describes his two-decade-long stint as a full-time journalist as eventful, purposeful, and full of joy and excitement. In 1993 he could foresee a different work culture appearing on the horizon, and decided to devote full time to teaching journalism (also, partly, with a desire to give back to the community from where he had enriched himself so much.)
Alongside, he worked for about a year in 1993 for the US State Department’s SPAN magazine, a nearly five-decade-old art and culture monthly magazine promoting US-India relations. It gave him an excellent opportunity to learn about things American, plus the pleasure of playing tennis in the lavish American embassy compound in the heart of New Delhi.
In !995 he joined WWF-India as a full-time media and environment education consultant and worked there for five years travelling a great deal, including to Husum in Germany as a part of the international team to formulate WWF’s Eco-tourism policy.
He taught journalism to honors students in a college affiliated to the University of Delhi, as also at the prestigious Indian Institute of Mass Communication where he lectured on “Development Journalism” to mid-career journalists/Information officers from the SAARC, African, East European and Latin American countries, for eight years.
In 2004 the BBC World Service Trust (BBC WST) selected him as a Trainer/Mentor for India under a European Union project. In 2008/09 He completed another European Union-funded project for the BBC WST related to Disaster Management and media coverage in two eastern States in India — West Bengal and Orissa.
Last year, he spent a couple of months in Australia and enjoyed trekking, and also taught for a while at the University of South Australia.
Recently, he was appointed as a Member of the Board of Studies at Chitkara University in Chandigarh, a beautiful city in North India designed by the famous Swiss/French architect Le Corbusier. He also teaches undergraduate and postgraduate students there.
He loves trekking, especially in the hills, and never misses an opportunity to play a game of tennis. The Western and Indian classical music are always within his reach for instant relaxation.
And last, but not least, is his firm belief in the power of the positive thought to heal oneself and others.