Unplugging in the Western Ghats
"Is that the one where they put a tube... up?” I asked, gesturing to the ceiling. “Yes, ma’am,” Dr. Arun nodded. It wasn’t the unplug I’d had in mind. Sitting in a doctor’s office in the middle of a forest near the western coast of India, clad from head to toe in white cotton, I was feeling vulnerable. Dharana Wellness Retreat had appeared the perfect place for me to attempt a true digital detox. If I couldn’t close my laptop in the famously spiritual mountains of the Western Ghats, there was surely no hope for me. A friend and I had flown in fresh from a boozy work event in North Goa, where unbeknown to me, my body had apparently celebrated a milestone birthday.
