In the distance by the side of the highway, I saw a signboard and couldn't suppress the feeling of excitement that surged in me. And just beyond it were billboards screaming 'Casino' and 'Entertainment'. Sure enough, the signboard read 'Welcome to Nevada'. We had crossed over the border from California, a state where gambling is illegal, to Nevada which thrives on it. I had heard a lot about the glitter of Las Vegas. About its beautiful casinos, its famous shows and showgirls, and, of course, Andre Agassi. I had watched in fascination as Bollywood showed off Las Vegas in all its grandeur in movie after movie. Almost to the point where in India my perception had been that America was all glamour and neon, the truth being far from it. It was late afternoon when we reached Las Vegas. From the air-conditioned car I watched in awe as the tall and massive structures that were hotels and casinos lining the famous 'Strip' passed us by -- each built around a theme and keenly competing with the other to reach out to the tourist. The city looked like any other except for its uniquely structured buildings. There was a huge pyramid right next to a fairytale castle, the statue of Liberty next to a massively tall sculpture of a golden lion, the Eiffel Tower not too far away from it. But this wasn't the Las Vegas I had imagined. Oh yes, the structures were breathtakingly massive, but where was the aura the city was famous for? There was almost nobody in the streets. I had read about large crowds that made it impossible to drive and that the only way to see the city was to walk. But here, as we drove towards our hotel, the streets were near deserted! Nothing prepared us for the simmering heat that hit us when we got out of the car. We found ourselves running for shade. Later I couldn't help wondering about a Hindi song in which Anil Kapoor and Sridevi pranced around Las Vegas in daytime! It was so unbearably hot that the heat simply swamped you. This wasn't turning out to be anything like I had imagined. But when we stepped out in the evening the city had transformed. It was the Las Vegas I had seen in films. It was the Las Vegas I had heard of. It was the Las Vegas I had imagined. Lights, neon flashes, colours, crowds, loudspeakers blaring music and show announcements, roller coasters, dancing water fountains, giant video screens flashing pictures of beautiful showgirls in almost nothing, and announcements of Madonna and Britney Spears coming to town, of the latest comedy acts and the show times... Yes, Sin City had woken up. I guess that is what makes Las Vegas so unique. It is a city like none other. Surreal and illusionary, it comes to life only at night. Tricking the eye and mind into believing that what is unreal is real. Inviting one into its fold, with a red carpet -- from the Venetian with its gondola rides down the Grand Canal, Caesar's with its Roman-style sculptures and architecture, New York where the entire casino is located on the streets of Times Square, Excalibur that's built like a castle out of fairy-tale storybooks... As we walked, we lost track of time. We didn't have a watch on us and there were no clocks around, neither in the hotels nor anywhere on the Strip. It was like Las Vegas didn't want us to realise the time at all, just wander around and lose ourselves. Which was one more amazing thing. It was always easy to enter a hotel, but getting out was difficult. Once we entered it was a maze inside. And, surprisingly, all the pathways within a hotel would invariably lead us through its own casino. With its shimmering lights and the sound of coins showering down it was all there to entice even a novice to try a hand. We did, and came a cropper! Finally, exhausted and sore, we decided to return to our hotel. And the alarm clock by the bedside showed 2am. We had been walking for nearly eight hours! And all we had seen was but a glimpse of the glitz and show that was Las Vegas. There was still so much more to see, so many more illusions and mirages. Kavya S has promised herself another visit to Vegas in the near future. Tell us what you think of this diary Be part of an exciting venture! Write a Diary!
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