By N.K.A. Ballal, Retd. Sr. Vice-President, ITDC The bathtub is in the news all over the electronic and print media for wrong reasons. But it is also true that death in a bathtub is not uncommon. If one recollects, actress Sridevi must have made millions posing in a bathtub for Lux advertisement and ironically met…
By N.K.A. Ballal, Retd. Sr. Vice-President, ITDC What was unique about the 4th edition of the Travel Mart held in J.K. Grounds, Mysuru this year? It was the presence of the Union Minister of Tourism [independent charge] K.J. Alphons, as chief guest. Mysore Travel Mart is organised by the stake-holders of tourism industry and very conspicuous…
By N.K.A. Ballal, Retd. Sr. Vice-President, ITDC Recently, I received an invitation from one Mr. Reddy for the inauguration of a “glamping” site at Mysuru. Impressive website. What is glamping? Simple, it is “glamorous camping.” Camping in style. Well, I am happy some entrepreneur has at last thought of this idea, which is quite common…
By N.K.A. Ballal, Retd. Sr. Vice-President, ITDC An interesting story on my WhatsApp: I had spent an hour in the bank with my dad, as he had to transfer some money. I could not resist myself and asked dad, why don’t we activate your internet banking? Why would I do that ? he asked me….
By N.K.A. Ballal, Retd. Sr. Vice-President, ITDC “Hybrid wedding” is a new term coined by the hospitality industry. Hybrid cars, one can understand but weddings? Well, it is simple. The marriages are performed in two destinations. At an exotic destination, sangeet, mehandi, cocktail etc., are done and the actual weddings are performed at home town….
By N.K.A. Ballal, Retd. Sr. Vice-President, ITDC The tourism industry has something to cheer for in this year’s budget. Our Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, in his budget speech, made a mention on the subject of tourism, a very significant step indeed. Presenting the budget- 2018, Jaitley said “India is blessed with abundance of tourist attractions,…
By N.K.A. Ballal, Retd. Sr. Vice-President, ITDC This year’s list of Padma awards announced on Thursday last, a day before the Republic Day had some pleasant surprises. Normally this list consists of cricketers, movie stars, other sportsmen and people who are favourably dispensed towards the ruling party. A Lutyens hang around. This year a total…
By N.K.A. Ballal, Retd. Sr. Vice-President, ITDC One crore or 10 million arrivals! We Indians should be proud. We have crossed this magical figure this year. Of course, this arrival figure includes tourists, business people, medical tourists and students. An achievement no doubt but nothing to brag about. Singapore, our neighbour gets about 15 million…
By N.K.A. Ballal, Retd. Sr. Vice-President, ITDC [Continued from Jan. 11] The second festival which we had the privilege to watch during our brief stay in the US was ‘The Thanksgiving’ similar to our Pongal or Sankranti. It is celebrated on the 4th Thursday in the month of November. In 1863, in the midst of…
By N.K.A. Ballal, Retd. Sr. Vice-President, ITDC [Continued from Jan. 4] I was always under a wrong impression that we Indians believed in bhootha, pretha, superstitions, ghosts etc., but I was in for a surprise on this US visit. Westerners too believe on all the above as much as we do and the only difference…
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