Viva Las Vegas
"Cash Out, Cash Out" I screamed this morning while I was woken up. What a rude awakening- the pleasant dream was ruthlessly stopped by the screeching alarm clock which chose a jackpot moment to remind me that it was time to go to work. I was having this glorious hangover of the Sin city.The realization- vacation over, back to work - left a sour taste in my mouth.
Las Vegas, where a temple for Shaguni( for modern day freaks, the guy who wanted to striptease Draupadi in Mahabharata)wouldn't be out of place, is a 9 hour drive from the San Jose- sanctum sanctorum of drudgery and monotony. We took off on Saturday morning after Maria Sharapova showed us more than her looks by winning Wimbledon. The car was gallantly racing up when it hit a road , the pace on which can only be matched by the classic sunday afternoon Doordarshan movie "Veedu"( Just as a clarification, this is the one which comes after the news for the hearing impaired on DD-1.). We dragged and drove and dragged and drove until we hit a free flowing road where I drove as I was in love with the police officer. I was consistently testing the speed radars with a minimum +10 over the speed limit. We reached Las Vegas finally after a tale of traffic jams, twilight zones, late start and missed exits.
Vegas is a city of dreams. I am sure the political activists who read it will be howling at me for admiring the undisputed capital of capitalism, but I cannot hide my appreciation for the creativity of men. Out of nowhere in a place where even Osama would think twice about living, comes a single strip of land which holds sway over everyone who comes across. The only road where you can find the Pyramid right across the street from the Eiffel Tower, gasp wide-eyed at the tall stratosphere and glance wide-mouthed at the dangerous yest seductive curves of Women. If you dichtomize the pulchrititude of women across the globe as ones that are beautiful and ones that are sexy, Las Vegas will lead you to thousands belonging to the latter.
We hit the road, intrestingly named "Strip", and visted "Bellagio"- the target of Ocean and his 11 men's nefarious plans. Bellagio was the nickname of one of my roomies at ASU and the similarity being their respective prosperities. From Bellagio, we hit the palace of a man who quite audaciosuly declared "Veni, Vidi, Vici" and lady luck took the form of Cleopatra to smile at me. I won at 25c slotting machine. I made 100 bucks there. In a fleeting moment of unadulterated egocentricity, I was already making plans to buy Caesar's palace and declare "Vandhen, Villayadinen, Vendraen". Joy was shortlived as I lost my $s to the machine, which like Monica Lewinsky, asked us to insert.
My luck was running out and so was my sleep. We stayed out till 5 in the morning and left to sleep as the sun slowly was waking up from his sleep. The next day began with a sumptuous meal at a multi-cuisine buffet where the number of desserts outnumbered the number of deserts in the world. Driving around in BMW Z4 like Lord Labbakku is everyman's afternoon dream after a good meal. I wanted to live the dream and decided to annex the BMW with a puny investment of $20. As a first installment for the money I put, I got to spin the wheel.. I spun and doubled my fortunes but the BMW reamined where it was. After a few more spins, the BMW was still were it was. After a few more spins, the BMW was still where it was but my money wasn't where it was..
I hit the next casino and lost more. Just when I had given up, I hit the jackpot( in a poor man's parlance) in a relatively nondescrpit location - I don't even remember the name of the Casino. I made close to $150 and I decided to take it easy after that. Played easily throught the night, taking less chances. Aladin was the hotel I enjoyed most. I loved the artifical roofs, the spacious courtyards- it almost took me to the days when I used to play "Prince of Persia" religiosuly. I listened to some live music and slept in a friend's hotel room.
I slept for a little bit and woke up to get back to San Jose. A drive once again punctuated with heavy traffic, barren mountains, veggie burritos and late landings. The drive might have been tiring, the nights might have been long but the experience itself is priceless. Sorry Master Card for borrowing your puncline.
"Cash Out, Cash Out" I screamed this morning while I was woken up. What a rude awakening- the pleasant dream was ruthlessly stopped by the screeching alarm clock which chose a jackpot moment to remind me that it was time to go to work. I was having this glorious hangover of the Sin city.The realization- vacation over, back to work - left a sour taste in my mouth.
Las Vegas, where a temple for Shaguni( for modern day freaks, the guy who wanted to striptease Draupadi in Mahabharata)wouldn't be out of place, is a 9 hour drive from the San Jose- sanctum sanctorum of drudgery and monotony. We took off on Saturday morning after Maria Sharapova showed us more than her looks by winning Wimbledon. The car was gallantly racing up when it hit a road , the pace on which can only be matched by the classic sunday afternoon Doordarshan movie "Veedu"( Just as a clarification, this is the one which comes after the news for the hearing impaired on DD-1.). We dragged and drove and dragged and drove until we hit a free flowing road where I drove as I was in love with the police officer. I was consistently testing the speed radars with a minimum +10 over the speed limit. We reached Las Vegas finally after a tale of traffic jams, twilight zones, late start and missed exits.
Vegas is a city of dreams. I am sure the political activists who read it will be howling at me for admiring the undisputed capital of capitalism, but I cannot hide my appreciation for the creativity of men. Out of nowhere in a place where even Osama would think twice about living, comes a single strip of land which holds sway over everyone who comes across. The only road where you can find the Pyramid right across the street from the Eiffel Tower, gasp wide-eyed at the tall stratosphere and glance wide-mouthed at the dangerous yest seductive curves of Women. If you dichtomize the pulchrititude of women across the globe as ones that are beautiful and ones that are sexy, Las Vegas will lead you to thousands belonging to the latter.
We hit the road, intrestingly named "Strip", and visted "Bellagio"- the target of Ocean and his 11 men's nefarious plans. Bellagio was the nickname of one of my roomies at ASU and the similarity being their respective prosperities. From Bellagio, we hit the palace of a man who quite audaciosuly declared "Veni, Vidi, Vici" and lady luck took the form of Cleopatra to smile at me. I won at 25c slotting machine. I made 100 bucks there. In a fleeting moment of unadulterated egocentricity, I was already making plans to buy Caesar's palace and declare "Vandhen, Villayadinen, Vendraen". Joy was shortlived as I lost my $s to the machine, which like Monica Lewinsky, asked us to insert.
My luck was running out and so was my sleep. We stayed out till 5 in the morning and left to sleep as the sun slowly was waking up from his sleep. The next day began with a sumptuous meal at a multi-cuisine buffet where the number of desserts outnumbered the number of deserts in the world. Driving around in BMW Z4 like Lord Labbakku is everyman's afternoon dream after a good meal. I wanted to live the dream and decided to annex the BMW with a puny investment of $20. As a first installment for the money I put, I got to spin the wheel.. I spun and doubled my fortunes but the BMW reamined where it was. After a few more spins, the BMW was still were it was. After a few more spins, the BMW was still where it was but my money wasn't where it was..
I hit the next casino and lost more. Just when I had given up, I hit the jackpot( in a poor man's parlance) in a relatively nondescrpit location - I don't even remember the name of the Casino. I made close to $150 and I decided to take it easy after that. Played easily throught the night, taking less chances. Aladin was the hotel I enjoyed most. I loved the artifical roofs, the spacious courtyards- it almost took me to the days when I used to play "Prince of Persia" religiosuly. I listened to some live music and slept in a friend's hotel room.
I slept for a little bit and woke up to get back to San Jose. A drive once again punctuated with heavy traffic, barren mountains, veggie burritos and late landings. The drive might have been tiring, the nights might have been long but the experience itself is priceless. Sorry Master Card for borrowing your puncline.
