Viva Vegas

You generally do not start with a negative comment for describing a vacation you enjoyed thoroughly, but one of the most striking things that hit me after landing in Vegas was the total lack of pleasant demeanor of the people in general. Having been witness to some of the most gracious hospitality in Orlando,Florida in my last vacation I was carrying a baggage of huge expectations compounded by the fact that Vegas was branded even higher in tourist ranking.

The first acrimonious event occurred the moment we landed at the baggage claim of the Vegas airport. All round chaos was the order of the day & there weren't many pleasantries between the fellow baggage claimers one would usually expect at US airports.It was a no holds barred & on-your-face body language all the way.It soon dawned on me that I might have too long been a part of the cozy,homely, small town atmosphere where no one's in hurry; something that is abundantly lacking in big cities around the world.

Anyways atleast one thing I was prepared for was the soaring heat.It was amply evident the moment we had landed out of the airport waiting for our rent-a-car shuttle to pick us.

Now when in India I have personally witnessed temperatures in 100 F+ range very routinely. But here it was different. You generally do not associate hot summer with the US when you are living in the north of midwestern region. 90 is like blazing hot for us. So it took a while to weather ourselves with that heat.

We picked our rental car & picked up Avinash from his hotel & headed straight for a lunch.

We wanted to cover Hover Dam before heading to the Canyons. So after a sumptuous lunch at Denny's on the strip itself we headed straight to Hover, the Dam.

Hover Dam wasn't particularly spectacular at the first site.And as we were on a pure fun trip, nobody really bothered to venture into the technicalities of the Dam history & its fundamental engineering. It was more of a photo-op than anything. But so was it for many others who had gathered there for having their share of its patel* value.

I feel when you go to places like Hover Dam, the single most important thing is to have ample amount of time at your dispensation.Something that we lesser mortals do not have when we squeeze in a 3 day vacation from our regular office routine. So one might say, enjoying the Hover Dam is a luxury someone should keep it for over-the-hill days, when you can plan an exclusive knowledge trip.
(I hope to undertake those knowledge trips once I am done with all my responsibilities. Whoops ! I am already sounding old).

OK. Before I start sounding like a retired man, let me take our rental car back to US-93 & I-40. The highways that took us to Grand Canyon.We started driving towards Grand C after spending some quality time at Hover Dam. We were fully aware of the fact that we might reach very early in the morning. But it was still worth it,as it did not make sense stopping anywhere else.

We had started at around 21:00 hrs for Grand Canyon. I did not push the gas too much as it was meant to be a leisure drive.
Discussing/arguing with Avinash about politics was always going to be fun. So it was not before we reached the gates of the Grand Canyon National Park that I realized that we had covered the entire distance within no time. In fact by the time we reached it was an unearthly 02:00 am.

We reached right at the nose of Mather Point.It was only in early morning that we realized how close we were from our destination.

Deepak & Avinash did try some stunts with their digital SLRs during those dark periods at 2:30 in the morning after reaching the Canyons while me,Vaidehi & Richa were blissfully unaware of their histrionics with camera.

We were fast asleep in our rented Ford.

It is not an irony that places like Grand Canyon attract the highest crowd for something like sunrise or sunset. In my entire lifetime this would be my 3rd or 4th tourist spot sunset/sunrise. Pachmarhi,Mahabaleshwar,Darjeeling are some I remember. But this one took the cake. It was royal.It was 'Grand' in every sense of the term.

As the crowed swelled near Mather Point, each individual trying to hijack the most strategic position possible for his/her tryst with camerawork, the Grand Canyon started appearing in all its glory with the first rays of sun hitting the earth at around 5:15 am.(Trivia: It takes 8 minutes for the sun rays to reach earth.)



The Asian community dominated the crowd & I instantly felt at home with the surrounding. It was almost a sense of deja vu that gripped me; if i might add.

We spent a good hour or so at the Mather Point. As the sun truely & finally rose over the Canyons, the beauty of the Canyons became more & more evident.

We had to move out from Grand Canyon sooner so that we could make the most of the day in Vegas.We hanged around for sometime in the national park with Avinash & Deepak going ballistic with their sleek Digital SLRs that they were carrying. They got some of the most exquisite pictures of Grand Canyon in those couple of hours.

We had a quick breakfast at the cafetaria in the national park itself.

While I was somehow gulping that insipid breakfast plate, Avinash made an (uncalled for) allusion to the Indian breakfasts & flirted with our taste buds, making us remember the wada pavs, dosas,pav bhajis and anything that made the thing in my plate look more & more bland.

(I have a problem with non-Indian foods. You can call me an Indian food-narcist :)))

It was now time to move out from the Canyons & head straight to our next stop. VEGAS.

With Deepak now taking charge of the wheels, we started back to Vegas at around 10:00 am from GC, thinking that we would want to make the most of rest of the available day.

Alas it was not to be. Though we did reach Vegas at around 15:00 hrs (as what we had planned for), it took us atleast 3 hours to complete the formalities of returning the rental car back to Enterprise & finally settling down for the much wanted nap in out hotel rooms.

Though personally for me it was not all that bad as just after touching Vegas we had a nice little lunch/buffet at Gandhi's; a decent little Indian restuarant just off the strip. After having pizzas & burgers in most sittings of our trip, the Indian food at Gandhi's came as a much needed relief for my desi taste buds & stomach.

Hotel Sahara's rooms were not particularly impressive.Mine & Vaidehi's room atleast had a view to boast off, owing to its 26th floor location.Sadly for Deepak & Richa, that was not the case.

Anyways by the time I reached my room back after returning the rented car, Vaidehi was already fast asleep. Not surprisingly though.She was damn tired for sure. And so was everybody.

We had decided to regroup at around 22:00 hrs in the casino lobby. And so we did.
We started walking down the road from the Sahara Hotel due South.

It did not take us very long to realize that there's more to Vegas than casinos as we walked on the famous Vegas strip that late evening.Cameras & handycams came out soon, much to the dislike of female janata who I believe wanted a more romantic stroll.

All the way from Sahara hotel we walked passed Venetian & Harrah's by the time our tired legs gave in.

We roamed around aimlessly in those casinos & hotels till we finally entered the Harrah's.
Avinash had his share of beginner's luck as he joined a group of seemingly professional black jackers on a table.The casino card dealer added his own bit of glamour & dramatics in his handling of cards. It added to the spice. By the time we left Avinash had already pocketed a cool 60 dollars over and above his investment. (Its a different story that later he lost everything)

It was already around 3:00 am in the morning.And we decided to call it a day.Four of us started walking back to our hotel leaving Avinash to deal with his new found stardom with cards.

As our legs started wearying out further, we desperately missed the convenience of a rented car.We somehow managed to reach our hotel by 4:00 am. It took us forever to walk that distance from Harrah's to our hotel Sahara.

Before retiring to our rooms we decided to stick around in the Sahara's casino and had a hand at gambling.(Honest confession:Sahara was much affordable as the minimum board for black jack was 5$ unlike 15$ in Harrah's)

I was around 15$ positive before Vaidehi applied her "ardhangini" brakes & we had to go to the rooms.I was on a roll & had i not been stopped that night (oops ! morning..) Sahara would have been a loss making casino..(sob.sob).

(What do I loose in saying that ?)

Anyways, next morning was a different day. It was memorial day for Americans. And as it turned out later it was the most memorable day for us.

The stage was perfectly set for a long haul of Vegas mania. Deepak & Richa booked tickets for the David Copperfield show.Vaidehi and myself ended up buying the Zumanity Show at New York New York casino.

Our show was at around 22:30 hrs late night so we had ample amount of time to gulp in as much Vegas as possible.

After a free show called 'Air Play' in Tropicana Hotel we went to watch a magic show exaggeratedly called XTreme Magic , in the same hotel.Some of the items in that show qualified as Xtreme. It was a fun 1:30 hrs & we enjoyed every bit of it.

On the other side of the road Richa had her own tryst with glory as she was called on stage in front of the audience of the David Copperfield Show. She was floored & flowered all the way as the magician performed some mindblowing majic.

One could see the lit faces of Deepak & Richa after they came out of the show to tell how grand that show might have been.

But there was more to come. We had a romantic foursome ride on a pseudo-Venice river in the Venetian.Deepak could not resist the temptation of flirting with our beautiful lady boat driver who by the way was equally forthcoming to all his advances.(Excuse me but spilling the beans is my old habit.)

After the ride we moved on to explore newer territories.
Two minutes of Camcorder recording & one minor fight* with Vaidehi later, I & Vaidehi found ourselves in front of the exquisite Bellagio fountain show.

It was one of a kind.

Many years ago as a kid i had seen the famous Vrindavan Garden fountain show of Mysore in India.I was eternally enamoured by that show. But if today I have to compare Bellagio with Vrindavan Garden's show it would be like comparing Tendulkar's awesome display at Sharjah in 1998 against Australia with Sunil Gavaskar's insipid 36 runs in 60 overs innings in the first one day international match India played in 1975 World Cup.(Where Bellagio offcourse stands for Sachin's innings).

It was so grand. It was awesome. It was truly majestic.




We had to bid Aviansh goodbye from the Balligios itself as he had a flight to catch for Dallas. It had been a great couple of days with him & his camera.Fun all the way. Avinash before leaving had left us a legacy of debates & arguments pertaining to male/female sense & sensibilities**.

Being a bachelor he whisked himself away from the potential chaos of answering uncomfortable questions for me & Deepak to handle later.

I mean how & what on earth should a husband answer when his wife asks him in public whether she's sensible??
Great men have failed to answer this.How can anybody expect an ordinary man like me to get this right?

Phew !!

We still had a couple of hours before the much awaited (by me) Zumanity Show. We had enough time to squeeze in one helicopter ride over the strip. It was already dark & Vegas was all lit up.

The setting was perfect for a ride over the sin city.And ride we did. Passing over those beautiful buildings & well lit roads, me & Vaidehi found ourselves for the first time ever in a Chopper.
From the skies,it was Vegas in all its glory. It was awesome. I could feel Vaidehi beaming with joy over those extraordinary buildings all lined & lit up; almost as if to welcome us into Vegas's lap.

If Bombay's marine drive is Queen's necklace;Vegas was a full blown jewelry store at its best display.Full of rare stones, if i may add.
Stratospher tower,The Mirage,MGM Grand et all.. everything was standing out tall & sensational.Inducing us into committing ourselves to one more Vegas trip. I thought to myself, can I have enough of it (Vegas) in one visit? The answer was NO,bold & italics.

We landed back safely on that strip after getting the best possible perspective of Las Vegas.

It took us a while to sink in that we just had a glorious 15 mins of chopper ride as we walked to our last destination - the Zumanity show in New-York New-York hotel.
We already had a contented & satisfied feeling with us. It was almost like we had grabbed Vegas by both hands just a few minutes ago.

In the meantime Deepak & Richa got a glimpse of Madame Tussad's & a ride on the top of Eiffel Tower of Paris on the Vegas strip.I am sure they could not have asked for more that day.

As we entered the massive auditorium of the Zumanity show & retired to those cozy seats in the front, some of the performers had already started entertaining the audience. It was a prelude to what was coming.Vaidehi became nervous at the thought of she being pulled up on the stage, as the showman moved around in the audience to get someone up.

The show had eroticism written all over. But it was not vulgar. The crowd was very sophisticated & there was a touch of class attached to performance. Though Vaidehi found some of the comments made during the show cheap; I for my part enjoyed every bit of it.(Does the book, Men are from Mars, Women from Venus, ring a bell here ?)

Some of the items of the show were simply out-of-this-world.

After hour & a half of exotic stunts & music the show ended & we walked straight back to MGM Grand casino where we were expecting Deepak & Richa to join us.Our monorail station was right above the MGM grand.

The problem with Vegas is, you just can't sit idle. You have to gamble even if you find 10 mins of free time at your dispensation.Thats exactly what happened with us while we are waiting on them.
I must confess that I lost more dollars in those 5 mins of gambling that I did when Vaidehi went to freshen up than I lost in those serious & committed gambling time.
that's what Vegas does to you. As we were waiting for the Kapurs to arrive we indulged in some casual gambling over the slotting machines & casually lost 20-30 dollars in no time.

We reached back to our hotel by around 1:00 am. (By the way all these unearthly times of 1's & 2's & 3 a.ms are pretty normal in Vegas).

It was now pay back time to Sahara hotel. Last night Sahara inadvertently left me off the hook with 15$ profit.Today was not my day. I lost 120$ in around 20 mins flat behind the back of Vaidehi who was sitting on another table of Black Jack.

One serious suggestion to readers. Whenever you plan to go to Vegas & gamble, have some warm up or practice matches (if you will) in the local gambling den of your city. That way you do not enter the ultimate gambling arena called Vegas without some experience.

I had no option but to go back to my room & sleep, having made a mess of the little profit that i had made the day before.(Gosh!!! was I even thinking of winning in gambling ? Is it something that happens in the normal world? Has anyone come to Vegas & gone with a +ve balance?)

Anyways,we had a nice sleep & next day afternoon we had a flight to catch. For all practical purpose our trip was over by then.

So would you think. But no, next day morning me & Deepak rushed to the Stratosphere hotel. The 110 storied monster near our Hotel. I had heard a lot about the ride on the terrace of Stratosphere from some of my friends.For me it was a must-not-miss thingy.

We had to buy tickets of the ride & decide which one of the 3 rides to pick.We inadvertently chose a ride called "insanity". When you know that the ride's name is something like insanity, you do not want to miss that.It turned out to be a good decision in the end.

I felt confident & at ease when I saw the set up of that ride.My confidence multiplied when I saw riders from previous round coming out all cool & relaxed without any screaming or crying normally associated with the post-ride syndrome of some of those horrible goosey-bumpy rides like roller coasters.

But as it turned out, it was not all that simple. May be the previous riders were experienced.
It is not easy to laugh when you are hinged to a single seat & the seat is revolving around an extended lever which extends way beyond the terrace parapit of a 110 storied building.

As I sat on my seat & the ride continued I realized that I had literally nothing to "fall back upon"...as all I could see from the top was a number of small tiny cars in the parking lot 110 floors below me with nothing but air in between.

I also thought to myself. If I ever fall from this ride, I might as well make a good dent in some rich suckers car in that parking lot before dying.Those first initial moments of the ride we had a hearty laugh. But that laughter was coming more out of fear more than anything else.(As it usually happens)

While me & Deepak were away, revolving on the 110th floor ride, back in our hotel, Vaidehi & Richa could not resist the temptation of having a shot at one more round of gambling. (Apparantely the idea was to cover up for all the losses made thus far. B-R-A-V-O !!!).

(Un) Fortunately for me, Vaidehi was not carrying her ID card. She had given it to me for keeping in my wallet. So as it turned out, only Richa could loose more money & Vaidehi escaped from the casino keeping her card clean of further debit. Vaidehi was dis-allowed to play or even roam in the casino.

(Vaidehi came up with mixed feelings after this incident. Sad because she was not allowed to play in the casino, happy, that she looked young enough to be asked for an identity card from the casino authorities.)

Our Vegas trip officially got over by 12:30 pm that day & it was time to fly back to our routine life.
In the end i came back confused as to what Vegas really stood for? Was it for its exotic hotels, for those mindboggling shows, for all those gambling stories to tell ?

One thing's for sure though. It entices you into spending. You cannot carry a tight pocket & still have a good time there. You need to blow,flow & glow.

Before I end, let me take a quick bow to the group of people who set their first steps into the barren,arid lands of Nevada & built an oasis called Vegas in that un-inhabited dessert.

VIVA VEGAS.

* patel value : no offence for any community. but this term is used to indicate the photo-op potential of a particular spot. Since gujjus form the bulk of tourists at any place, the term comes from how many clicks does a spot get. As a convention, NY's statue of liberty has according to some people the highest "patel value".

* Me & Vaidehi got into a confrontation over the "excessive" use of handycam. Apparently i was guilty of missing out on a romantic movement in the "Venice" boat, at The Venetian

** Avinash popped up a question during a discussion in the car while coming back.It was something about sensible life partner.One thing led to another before me & Deepak found ourselves in a soup.I wish not to elaborate this further as i want to live to see another day.