Contributed by Hub Member Mari Korpela

India is a popular lifestyle migration destination. Hippies arrived there in late sixties and since then, Westerners in search of an alternative lifestyle have been gathering there. Many search for Eastern spirituality (practicing yoga, meditation etc.), whereas others like to party on the beaches of Goa. Lifestyle migration to India can be labelled as bohemian because of the spiritual, artistic and creative values that many of those people embrace. I have conducted anthropological research among Western lifestyle migrants in two locations in India: in the holy city of Varanasi where the main attraction is classical Indian music and in the state of Goa where the Westerners are attracted by the beautiful beaches and the trance music scene. In Goa, I was studying Western families with small children: so far, there are not many studies on lifestyle migrant children although an increasing number of families are leading the lifestyle in various parts of the world.