‘There’s no question that The Beatles post-Rishikesh were different from The Beatles pre-Rishikesh,’ says The Beatles historian Mark Lewisohn.

‘The relationship between George and Paul was different after Rishikesh, partly because George was disappointed Paul had left. When they got back to England, John and Yoko got together and John’s marriage with Cynthia was over, so everything shifted. It didn’t break The Beatles up, but Rishikesh was a watershed period. It was a time for reflection,’ he adds.

Although Western newspapers viewed meditation as slightly mad, the global press attention attracted more visitors to the small holy town. ‘Even though they were laughed at, you can set The Beatles’ trip as the start of meditation and yoga being much more widespread. The Beatles didn’t even do yoga, but them being so accepting of something that was then an alien Eastern culture very much popularised it in the West,’ adds Lewisohn.

Chaurasi Kutia fell into neglect over the decades, its walls covered in graffiti. It opens for International Yoga Week in March, and for the rest of the month to celebrate 50 years since the Liverpool lads’ visit. Rishikesh remains famous as the world’s yoga capital. Roads and infrastructure have improved, and it’s now accessible by train and Dehradun’s Jolly Grant Airport, but it still has a calm, backpacker atmosphere.

‘Backpacking and seeing the world became the thing for dropouts to do,’ says Lewisohn. ‘The Beatles didn’t begin that, but undoubtedly there was an encouragement there from the very fact that they did something similar. Rishikesh became part of the hippie trail, and it still is.’

Mark Lewisohn is the author of trilogy The Beatles: All These Years

Rishikesh is a six hour drive from New Delhi.