Vegas, Vegas!

It's mercury touches 106 F on an average in summers. It's population as well as tourists find it hard to walk on foot paths without hitting each other. Night at 2 o clock automobiles find it difficult to slide without facing a traffic jam. This is Las Vegas.The entertainment capital of the world. The city of gambling. The city of stripping. The city of organised crime.

The moment you step into the airport you start feeling the hot breeze of commerce The long limousines and vans with huge custom made bodies line up to transport it's umpteen number of tourists to the destinations. People seem to have no respect for others time or money. The customary manners of the western world erode there .People who are supposed to render service , tend to get amused by themselves unmindful of third party presence. Periodically they keep checking their valets for fair assessement of money earned on a particular day. Low humid hot air blows from end to another the moment you step out of the closed doors. In a way it reminds you a big city of India under reeling heat of summer with huge population rushing from one end to another. It is really irksome as well as amusing for many of Americans whose cities though big are insipid and wear a desolated look. Once again I reassured myself, unmanageable crowds can make things worst.

My knowledge of Las Vegas confine it to a illuminated heaven. But it was not altogether correct . The entire town looks as normal as other city.But the strip is quite illuminated but not to the extant of my imagination.Authorities make no effort to light them either. It is only the casinos and hotels which make the city brighter. My focus was only the strip than the other parts of the city. Fifteen or more of casinos have their own speciality theme or concept. Apparently all of them spent millions to decorate their habitats. Bellagio with it's most impressive interiors and dancing fountains, MGM with it's lion habitat, mirage with it's volcanoes, Paris with it's Eiffel Tower, Venetcian with it's water ways and gorgeous artificial sky, palazzo with it's magnificent dome, Treasure Island with it's massive ship and enacted pirate attack, Newyork Newyork with Statue of liberty and thrilling rides, Luxor with it's beaming dome and sphinx,Trump with it's heavy brass doors and chandeliers and it's Miss Universe pageant tag, Casino Royale with James bond past, Planet Hollywood with lucrative dining offers, Encore and Wynn with their fabulous structures, inside of all the beautiful exteriors we find few thing in common, blaring slot machines, poker games, fortune wheels etc.... There are there to make money, to lure new enthusiasts to try their hand , to snub old experienced hands who suck their money. Constantly interests keep on clashing with each other. Millions change hands. Each casino has it's vault as huge as a bank's vault.

The pedestrians come across thousands of nude postcards strewn all over the walkways,seducing hookers, their agents, alluring casinos with gaming and free drinks. The city must be very exiting place for an orthodox world of seventies and eighties. But to day no body seem too much exited about it as every place on earth is slowly turning to be so, and almost every movie star, model or music video performer having no inhibitions in looking too hot. Girls with full clothing on them look too outdated. People in general began to feel proud of their assets and sensuality. Pregnant woman too can be projected as a sex symbol. No thing remained a secret in today's world.

I sat before a slot machine due to some external pressure for couple of minutes and noticed my dollars deleting in a blink .I understood the harsh reality that we come here to loose money very fast. But looking at the ametures like me around I wondered whether all the millions spent by casinos on ambiance is worth the money they get. Still corporates can not be fools for spending for nothing.

In my opinion no Vegas trip is complete without watching some of the greatest shows on earth . One need to be superbly talented and world class in order to perform in Las Vegas. I think I am privileged to watch some of the spectacular shows here.

Cirque Du Soleil :- No description of Vegas show is complete without mentioning cirque De soleil. So far in my small imaginary world I thought special effects are possible only in movies.It proved me completely wrong. The music, surround audio, lighting, stage set up, theme, performance was breath taking. It was unbelievable. So fast, so accurate, so precise, so brilliant , so fabulous, so impeccable. Perfect. Perfect. I had no words to describe it . It is distinctly a Vegas performance. I came to believe that no show on any corner of the world would entice me more.

Jubilee show:- I chosen it entirely at my own peril despite repeated warnings from my kin. They do the top less shows too. But I have chosen a show with various costumes and Swarosky crystals. My intuitions did not go wrong. The show was a tremendous entertainer.The costumes were fabulous, crystals were amazing, the dancers were like fairies. First time I felt that two eyes are not sufficient to watch the awesome looking multitudes of performers on the stage. Hats off to their technology of sound and light, you tend to slip into the dream world. Great deal of talent is required to create thousands of dresses, to conceive a catchy theme, and to develop a beautiful choreography. It is not one man's effort. It is a collaborative effort of many creative brains who don't tumble at least once.. The talent shows in between dances were awesome. How is it like man at his best? Watch here.

David Copperfield:- The man who was acclaimed to be the magician of the millennium, most watched performer on T.V, most widely quoted, most highly rewarded, the most admired illusionist David Copperfield on the stage very close to my gallery, and occassinally passing in front of me ! I felt really lucky to watch him performing live. As the show went on there grew a sense of disappointment in me. None of the tricks looked unique and unbelievable.I had a sense of De javu. I come from a country where wonderful magicians were born, illusionists have taken lessons from the sages of Himalayas, rope tricks date back thousands of years. If I am not mistaken magic is born in India and travelled to Egypt. Every trick looked old to me. Many of them looked fake and scripted. Yet he is successful and making money. Man often does not get what he deserves, but gets what he negotiates. Obviously he negotiated better in life.

Due to time constraint I could not watch "Le Reve" which I believe is splendid.Not a too small number of celebrities either at the beginning of the career or end of the careers want to be Vegas performers to earn their woofing millions. There are too many great performances which I could not watch due to time and money constraints.

We have some cities which are as populous or busy as Vegas. But all of them cannot be Vegas for various reasons. In societies where the night life yet a thing for despise, drink a taboo, nudity obscene, gambling a vice, secretly things happen in small scale in one corner. We don't have to regret for not having one Vegas in our back yard. But we have to acknowledge a fact there lives a sin city where every conceivable human error can take place. There lives a paradise where you can forget what you are for a day.