Joyous Vegas!

A week at Vegas did well to my fraying nerves. Was there to attend a congress with my colleague Surya Kiran. Unlike many other cities of US (and I have seen quite a few of them now), Vegas vibrates with energy. As is true of most Tourist Havens, Vegas is full of activities, more so after the sun sets in and the innumerable lamps with dancing lights take over each and every part of Vegas.



For good times don’t we use the phrase “har din id aur har raat diwali”?
Id or no id, but Vegas does boast of a diwali every night with whole of the strip decorating itself in magnificent, all pervasive lights and like a true diwali, engulfs folk in “juaa” or gambling!

Every Hotel worth its name in Las Vegas boasts of a battery of slot machines - inviting, seducing and captivating the tourist. To ensure you can’t escape its charm, the casino begins right at the entrance of the Hotel to greet you even before you can reach the lobby. Even much before that, as soon as you enter the Airport, you know you have arrived at Vegas as the omnipresent slot machines are right there smiling at you in a fashion that would give even a seasoned seductress a good run for her money!



But the Hotel where we stayed didn’t progress beyond the evening. It has captured a nice romantic Venice-like evening and doesn’t allow it to slip at all! Well, how they do is - they have created a sky on the roof of a huge compound which even has canals like Venice where people even ride Gondolas! The sky, the lighting, the ambience is such that you feel you are in Venice (and I can certify that since I’ve been to Venice). No wonder the hotel is called Venetia. The concept of “open-air” given a twist doesn’t make the restaurants here any less enjoyable than the open-air ones at Venice on a lazy, laid-back evening.

As usual, I lost money while Surya Kiran pocketed a clean $ 50, winning his way through the slot machines. I even didn’t have a comfort of the cliché saying– “unlucky in cards, lucky in love”. Do I?



The conference over, gambling over, shopping over, we then moved to Grand Canyons on a Bus Tour. It was a whole day affair but that’s the best we could manage as the chopper tours either were all pre-booked or were a bit too expensive. The Canyons are such a vast expanse of natural high and low formations around the Colorado river that one can understand the flirtations of adventure-seeking men with them over many years – even before the days of wild wild western cow-boys.


Mackenna’s gold or no gold - they stand tall as one of the seven natural wonders on the earth.

The world may be big but it still is small as I bumped into my cousin’s family at Chicago Airport! They were travelling in the same flight and my sister-in-law was visiting India after 2 years and they were to return same day, same flight, and same airport as I flew – what co-incidence!

To be back in India as the plane touches the Airport still feels great, I am happy, content and at peace being back at home. Only flip side is as I think of the work that would have piled-on by now, I get frayed nerves.