Vegas ... the mirage

I had been to Vegas about a week back and it was great experience. I feel Vegas is a true mirage. Located in the middle of desert with absolute nothingness around for miles and miles, Vegas is a place where many people come forth with hopes and dreams of making it big. Some do and some don’t. Some fly while the wings of others break down and perish. We don’t knew those who do perish while those who do make it big are known by many.

Coming back to the point, Prashanth has taken the glory of the trip. This is one helluva guy who is great to be around with. Esp. on a trip. Even more amusing when he is quite tripped I must say as all of us (whoever was on the trip) would concur. Reaching Vegas past 12 in the night due to traffic didn’t spare anyone any energy to hit out at that point of time. The next day each of us were full charged to hit the casinos, look at things around (gals in specific... hehehehe).
we dint feel the drag of the length of the journey on the way since Ganesh( a.k.a Ganny) was driving all the way meanwhile teaching the rest of us to play blackjack. Damn it! I rarely won at that point of time :( But it was hilarious all the way thru.
Early next morn (which by the way was almost noon) we hit the streets and into a few casinos. We realized soon that we would not b having enough time to reach all of em within our stay there. So we hit the stop watch and spent like an hr at each casino. It was quite hilarious then on.. Ramya and Vijay went on their path, Praveen and Prashanth went off to find some blackjack slot machines, while I and Ganny tried out whatever game looked interesting. And when the timer goes off, we see people from different directions run towards the entrance or meeting point preassigned. :D

It was during one of these hours that I spent at one of the casinos that I saw the grim side of Vegas. There was this middle aged guy sitting on a blackjack slot machine who appeared to have been sitting there long. Real long, I could say from his face. After loosing some money he turned over to me and said "This thing cheats!". The words may appear subtle. But thinking of his words deeper, made me understand Vegas as a whole. This man like many others appear to have played long there. He would daily come in the morning with lil money with hope of hitting it big some time. He puts in some cash, wins lil and puts more wins lil more. its when he puts in a higher risk bet with the hope tat his luck will stand thru his hopes get crushed. With the hope tat his luck will better at the next slot machine he will start again with $1. The cycle continues day in day out. By the end of the day he would have made very little or in most likelihood lost a lot more money. Yet next day he will return.

This is Vegas. Vegas is that which has thrived on such. For the few that had hit it big there are thousands who had their wings cut. It probably is good for a short while like a romantic getaway perhaps; but it’s not my idea of long term stay in such a place.

The best fun we had was late into the night playing black jack and joking around in our rooms. With a few half slaushed and great jokes and sense and logic thrown right out the window, the night was complete fun. (Until I lost consciousness, and as I understand from the others continued to be so till 5 am). The next morn however didn’t provide enough time to hit more casinos since each of us had to reach different places and airports while some of us had to drive back to LA. After a few good snaps, some beer and a good pizza; we said out goodbyes for a while and departed from there with the intent of returning someday.

Vijay, Prashanth, Praveen, myself and Ganny

Oh, by the way, the name of the casino at which that guy (the middle aged man I earlier referred to) was sitting was 'Mirage'. Now I wonder why!...