By N.K.A. Ballal, Retd. Sr. Vice-President, ITDC Mysuru region is dependant on tourism as the most important economic activity. Due to the pandemic, the worst hit is the tourism industry. All other industrial activities are slowly picking up but tourism activity to pick will at least take one or two years, even to come to…
Change for the sake of changing
October 8, 2020By N.K.A. Ballal, Retd. Sr. Vice-President, ITDC An upset girl stormed into her home shouting at nobody in particular. “No one in my office has any respect for my work, I am so frustrated.” Her father who was watching her drama quietly told her “calm down, have this glass of water. I have a small…
SPB, a gentle giant
October 1, 2020By N.K.A. Ballal, Retd. Sr. Vice-President, ITDC A legend of music is no more. I really do not know if there is any other adjective to describe someone who has 40,000-plus songs in 14 languages to his credit. Many of these songs were sung free to help a friend in distress too. The pandemic, which…
Every relationship requires patience
August 13, 2020By N.K.A. Ballal, Retd. Sr. Vice-President, ITDC An interesting discourse by Sri Radheswami: Imagine you plant a seed and water it everyday for the whole year. Nothing happens. How would one react? With disgust and anger? In China there is a type of bamboo tree which needs watering everyday for 5 years. Yes, you heard…
Out-of-the-box solutions required for Revival of Tourism
August 6, 2020By N.K.A. Ballal, Retd. Sr. Vice-President, ITDC Green shoots of revival; it is visible to all the so-called intellects and economists post this pandemic. But what is the reality on the ground? Yes, certain industries like pharmacy or biscuit manufacturers prospered in this pandemic but all the other manufacturers are in doldrums. With doles being…
Spending to Live or Living to Spend!
July 23, 2020By N.K.A. Ballal, Retd. Sr. Vice-President, ITDC A Gaur Gopal Das story which moved me: A man was ready to go to his office. His wife asked him to wait and told him to put some laundry clothes into the machine. However, she told him not to put too many clothes in the machine. The…
Do not pre-judge
July 16, 2020By N.K.A. Ballal, Retd. Sr. Vice-President, ITDC Lockdown with just 4-hour notice: Was it right or wrong? Many opinions. Only time will tell whether it was right or wrong. Why pre-judge our Prime Minister so early ? Why does he not name China? Why does he not wish Dalai Lama on his birthday? As a…
Time to balance news in trying COVID times
July 9, 2020By N.K.A. Ballal, Retd. Sr. Vice-President, ITDC Kevin Carter, a South African photo-journalist, was awarded the “Pulitzer Prize” for the visual “The Vulture and the Little Girl.” In the picture, a vulture is patiently waiting for the death of a hungry little girl. Carter captured the moment in the great 1993 famine in Sudan. …
It is a war, let us not crib
April 23, 2020By N.K.A. Ballal, Retd. Sr. Vice-President, ITDC An Army Officer’s wife’s message, so straight, touched my heart, so thought of sharing it with ‘SOM’ readers: “I contemplated a couple of times before jotting it down. I know probably a few will still not agree with me and bash me left, right and centre. But I…
Power of “Faith” in trying times
April 16, 2020By N.K.A. Ballal, Retd. Sr. Vice-President, ITDC My friend Sarasa sent me this story which I thought of sharing with ‘SOM’ readers as it fits in with the current times: Once a man got lost in a desert. The water in his flask had run out two days ago and he was on his last…
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