By N.K.A. Ballal, Retd. Sr. Vice-President, ITDC Recently the District Minister of Mysuru, at a meeting he chaired in connection with Dasara, asked officials to come up with some new ideas for Jumboo Savari procession. So far so good. The present Committee is full of Government servants who are juniors to the Deputy Commissioner of…
Is Lalitha Mahal Hotel going Jayalakshmi Vilas Mansion way?
May 23, 2023By N.K.A. Ballal, Retd. Sr. Vice-President, ITDC When ITDC handed over the property of Lalitha Mahal Palace Hotel back to the State Government at the book value after running it successfully for a decade or more, there was a tacit understanding that the said property would be run temporarily for some time and thereafter it…
Singapore Experience
February 16, 2023By N.K.A. Ballal, Retd. Senior Vice-President, ITDC Why do I call our visit to Singapore an experience? After four visits, I have no new tourist attractions to see except the ‘Jewel,’ a forest and waterfall re-created right in the middle of the Terminal 3 International Airport, a must-see place. The best months to visit Singapore…
Dasara-2022: Old wine in new bottle
October 7, 2022By N.K.A. Ballal, Retd. Sr. Vice-President, ITDC The Dasara-2022 has come and gone. 62 troupes, 48 tableaux, over 1,500 artistes, a logistic nightmare. I should congratulate the District Administration for managing this event without a hitch as I am writing this article. Except for the lighting of the roads, the Food Festival, Flower Show and…
Grand Dasara – A Mirage
August 12, 2022By N.K.A. Ballal, Retd. Sr. Vice-President, ITDC This year, the Government in its wisdom decided to celebrate Dasara in a “grand way.” Excellent news for the general public, all the stakeholders of the tourism industry and the officials of course. Though I am a born optimist, of late looking at the way the Department of…
Leave Chamundi Hill alone
March 24, 2022By N.K.A. Ballal, Retd. Sr. Vice-President, ITDC Chamundi Hill is back in news again. Of course, for all the wrong reasons. The political class is hell bent on construction of a ropeway on this hillock. This subject comes up every two to three years, gets shelved due to the vehement opposition and then again resurfaces. …
Knock-out Punch to Hospitality Industry
March 10, 2022By N.K.A. Ballal, Retd. Sr. Vice-President, ITDC Omicron, a variant of Corona, has delivered a knock-out punch to the hospitality industry. Though this industry was crippled by the earlier Corona, a small recovery was seen in the horizon aided by the revenge travel undertaken by the people who were suffocated by the two years of…
Make the best of what one has
February 16, 2022By N.K.A. Ballal, Retd. Sr. Vice-President, ITDC I had an interaction with an educationist recently and he narrated something very interesting: A few weeks back I was in my weekly webinar session with my Foundation students and I was scheduled to speak to my first year batch whom I had met only virtually till now….
Be positive, a boon or a curse now ?
April 29, 2021By N.K.A. Ballal, Retd. Sr. Vice-President, ITDC A meaningful story, a WhatsApp forward: A gourmet chef once invited a dozen of his close friends to the restaurant. He had prepared a special biriyani, the secret recipe of which he claimed he had got from an old lady from his village. The aroma of this…
Fused Bulbs and Life Lessons !
February 18, 2021By N.K.A. Ballal, Retd. Sr. Vice-President, ITDC A WhatsApp forward: A Senior Executive retired and shifted from his palatial official quarters to the Housing Society, where he owned a flat. He considered himself big and never talked to anyone. Even while walking in the Society Park every evening, he ignored others, looking at them with…
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