It’s not exactly a new experience for me. To be honest, it feels like forever since I was last in India, but if I look at my passport, it tells me I left the country less than seven months ago. Sure, in the meantime, I’ve lived in four different homes between the Canary Islands and Italy and navigated the bureaucracies of both countries. But that’s another story—or maybe the prologue to this one.
Back to India. Back home.
Every return feels like a new beginning. I’ve felt this country grow within me since the first time I set foot in a humid, sweltering Mumbai in 2005. I still remember how, after my first return to Europe, everything felt muted: the colours less vibrant, the sounds less intense, the scents and fragrances more subtle… as if the rest of the world had turned down the volume of life. Now, most of those things—eating with my hands, walking barefoot, drinking from a bottle without letting it touch my lips, starting my day by acknowledging the spiritual dimension of my existence—have become normal for me. And it’s the opposite that feels “strange.”
In a couple of months, it will mark 20 years of frequenting India. I’ve spent more time there than anywhere else over the last 14–15 years.
Last year, a friend did a Vedic astrological reading for me, according to Hindu tradition. She said that by 2025, I would settle down, take a break from the wandering I’ve been doing for the past two decades… Yeah, right!
At the time, I had just finished studying Tibetan language and philosophy at a college in Dharamsala, was continuing my yoga studies in Mysore, and was preparing to leave for Sri Lanka, with plans to fly to the Canary Islands after two months.
And yet, today I’m leaving Italy, where I’m leaving behind a rented studio apartment.
Not an empty room, but a rental contract still running while I’ll be away.
I’ve bought a return ticket!
Not the usual one-way ticket.
Okay, the return is open… after all, changes don’t happen overnight. 😉
The mindset behind this departure is different from what I had become used to.
I’m leaving with a new mental perspective and a lighter load, both physically and emotionally. I’m not taking everything I own, just what is truly essential—a reflection of years of decluttering, both material and spiritual. Dividing my backpack into “kitchen, library, bathroom, and all-season wardrobe” is no longer necessary. Now I only carry what’s really needed.
In 2011, I quit my job as an engineer, chose a direction, and left with a round-the-world ticket valid for one year, subletting the apartment I was renting. When I returned, I gave up that apartment and stored my belongings, along with my car, in a friend’s warehouse. The following year, I sold the car… and so on, until my home and my life fit into a backpack. (Okay, okay, there are still a few boxes, and those are what I went back to during my recent return to Italy. It’s not like I threw away useful things 😉).
“Chi vuol esser lieto, sia: del doman non v’è certezza.”
(Let those who wish to be happy, be so: for tomorrow is uncertain)
As the Canzona di Bacco said in 1490.
So, unsure of when I’ll be able to return to India, I decided to go now. If priorities must be set according to what matters most, then for me, it’s peace of mind.
Well, then I want to start again from there, 20 years later.
I’ve let go of the illusion of a fixed place, as well as the false promise that earthly and material solutions are “forever.”
I navigate by sight, with a clear direction and a renewed ability to live in the only real moment: the present.
Yesterday is a memory faded by time.
Tomorrow is just an idea we don’t know will ever come.
Today, now, is the time to be happy. No matter what.
The title of this article mentions the fourth phase of the journey.
A few years ago, I started reflecting on, distinguishing, and writing about the phases of a journey—perhaps I’ll publish those thoughts one day—and the fourth phase emerged as the one where, after accumulating experiences in the first three phases, you reach a point where you feel the need to give back to others what you’ve received.
You want to share what you’ve lived, because it can be of help, comfort or inspiration to others.
This phase of the journey goes beyond the physical movement that dominates the other three phases.
Excited.
I’ve entered the fourth phase of my journey…
And I’ve also considered dedicating this section of the blog to sharing different aspects of the “journey,” from a more personal perspective.
The Essence Of The Journey Isn’t About Reaching A Destination, But Discovering Who You Become Along The Way.
