When he is diagnosed with cancer, in the silence of the hospital room broken only by the swish of cars outside, Italian writer Tiziano Terzani realizes that his whole life has been one long ride on a merry-go-round where he has always journeyed without a ticket. Now, for the first time, the ticket collector has come to demand his dues. At first, Terzani turns to Western medicine for a cure, but a question soon begins to haunt him: is cancer, as the doctors say, an enemy that needs to be destroyed, or is it a friend one can talk to? Travelling had always been a way of life for him, so he decides to make another trip, in search of a solution—to India. This final ride turns out to be very different though. And more difficult. Because every step, every choice?often between reason and faith, between science and magic?is inextricably linked to his own survival. As he crisscrosses the country from an ashram in Coimbatore to a hut in Almora, the external journey in search of a cure transforms into an inner journey and a return to the divine roots of man. Then, one day, as he looks at the sun rising over the mountains, he stumbles upon the one truth that has eluded him: death is as desirable and eternal as life itself. A bestseller in Europe, this is a book about modern medicine and alternative cures, and the quest to understand the true meaning of mortality.
About the Author
Tiziano Terzani (1938–2004) was an Italian journalist and writer, best known for his extensive knowledge of twentieth-century Asia, where he lived for thirty years. He was the Asian correspondent for the German weekly Der Spiegel, while also collaborating with the daily newspapers Corriere della Sera and La Repubblica. Born in Florence, Italy, in 1972, as the foreign correspondent for Der Spiegel, he opened new bureaus for them in Singapore, Hong Kong, Beijing, Tokyo and Bangkok. After witnessing key historical events like the defeat of the Americans in the Vietnam War, the transformation of Mao’s China and the collapse of the Soviet empire, Terzani decided to make India his home in 1994, spending his fi nal years in a small retreat in the Himalayan ranges above Almora. When he died in July 2004, Times London described him as a ‘legend in his own time’. Terzani’s passionate curiosity about the fate of man in the modern world became increasingly more important to him than the journalistic concerns of economics and politics. A Fortune-Teller Told Me (1995), which describes his travels by train, ship and elephant following a warning from a fortune-teller in Hong Kong to avoid airplanes, became an inspiration to millions of readers, helping them change perspective on their own lives. The End Is My Beginning, a discussion with his son about the great journey of life, was made into a feature fi lm in Italian and German. One More Ride on the Merry-Go-Round, fi rst published in Italy a few months before his fi nal journey, tackles the age-old question of how to live and die, and became an instant best-seller for its down-to-earth approach to exploring the spiritual dimension in an ever more materialistic world. An international literary prize is awarded every year in Tiziano Terzani’s name. Felix Bolling is a translator and traveller. He never stays still at one place for long.
