I remember being at Disneyland in Anaheim, California, a couple of years ago. My daughter, 12 at the time, would have been disappointed if Donald Duck had not been around to shake her hand and sign her slam book. But there he was, fabulous blue eyes and such an outsized smile we could almost say hello to his epiglottis. That's the guarantee of a Disneyland--you get your ticket's worth. No such luck at Our Native Village, on the outskirts of Bangalore, where we recently spent a couple of days in search of peacocks.

In fact, the resident turkey of the village had just died. If we wished, we could milk the cow, we were told. That's the big difference between “doing“ Disneyland and “doing“ Our Native Village--fictional animals are guaranteed in the former, real life and nature are elusive in the latter. Maybe that's why we loved it. My daughter didn't complain. Instead, she learnt to play gilli-danda and went cycling across the open grassy savannah landscape.

But I get ahead of myself.

Down with a cough that wouldn't go away despite intense medication, I needed to get away from the city. At one time such places would have been called sanitariums. But Our Native Village is an eco-resort for holistic healing.

So we woke up at 6am for a walk in 600 acres of forest with the air full of the smell of fresh rain. When we got back, there was hot breakfast waiting, much of the produce brought in from the organic farm on the property.

Don't be silly--of course you can get an Ayurvedic massage. This is south India, where there is no healing without a good oil rub or a shirodhara (a mesmerizing warm drip of medicated oil and milk on your forehead). Even better was the sound massage my wife wanted--lying on a wooden table while a therapist played 50 strings in the hollow below her. The vibrations had her stress knots all straightened out--somewhat like a trance party, except this was bespoke for an audience of one.

I don't know when, perhaps between reading the P.D. James mystery below the coconut tree in the afternoon and drinking the delicious jaggery-spiked coffee in the evening, my cough decided to abandon me. Talk about holistic healing.

Arun Katiyar Katiyar is a Bangalore-based content and communication consultant.
Write to lounge@livemint.com GETTING THERE Our Native Village is located in Hessarghatta, 40km north of Bangalore, off Tumkur Road. A night's stay for two costs 6,800 (exclusive of taxes). This includes room cost, breakfast, lunch, dinner, group yoga, meditation, use of the pool, and certain village games and activities. There are also special multi-day packages. For details, visit www.ournativevillage.com