JOIN USThe case of the missing officials
Deputing government delegations to countries having prospective investors used to be a regular feature in the '70s and '80s. Getting a berth in such delegations was much in high demand as visits to foreign countries were rare and expensive privileges. Such delegations were led by chief ministers or senior cabinet ministers. I was lucky to be part of such visits on many occasions.
We visited countries like Thailand, Japan and Hong Kong many times. Hong Kong was a British colony and had its attractions. We had collaborated with Hong Kong in areas like manufacturing parts of watches. It may be remembered that Bangalore was the hub of watch-making in India and HMT had a monopoly. this also took us to Japan. Thailand too looked attractive for small industries, ornaments and toy making. These places had a number of wealthy Indian expatriates who showed interest in investing in the city.
Serious meetings and discussions would place during day time, but evenings were reserved for great parties and entertainment, including visits to night clubs. On one such occasion, two of our senior-most officers got lost. After the show at night, both of them disappeared. The more senior one was spotted with a suspicious-looking woman, the other man was nowhere to be seen. We were worried because Hong Kong was notorious for its gangs and it would have been disastrous if they were found robbed or stabbed.
After quite some time the older sahib returned with a strange story that the woman had looted him of his gold ring, Rolex watch and money. She wanted to remove even his expensive pair of Bally shoes but he somehow escaped. Fortunately, his passport was somewhere else. Being our leader nobody asked him why he accosted the woman at all in the first place. After some more time, the younger one came back with a sob story in Kannada. "Dhaari thappi hoithappa. Elli hogithenthu gothilla, enomaadi bandu bitte”(I had lost my way, don’t know where I went, somehow I found the way back). This explanation was totally unacceptable. Anyway, everything ended well. When we narrated this story to the CM the next morning, he had a hearty laugh.
The visits were not all fun, serious discussions and promotions took place though the results were not immediately seen. That was because of the licence/inspection raj of our country, and the lack of infrastructure. Certainly, awareness regarding Karnataka was created, and that along with the relaxation of rules and regulations turned out to be the basis for foreign investments pouring in later.