An Evening in Vegas

I was in Las Vegas last weekend, and had the opportunity to meet three of my close friends from my undergrad. We had a mini get-together as Veera flew in from Chicago, Pras flew in from San Jose and Boss came in from San Diego. I was there of course, from Phoenix. Quite different kinds of arrival schemes compared to the meetings we had in college, wouldn't you say?! Instead of riding the bus, that too standing, from Virudhunagar or Tirunelveli, we flew in from all these cities to the mother of all party places - Las Vegas. Add to the fact that it was Halloween, so the crazy crowd was a tad more drunk than usual. We had booked rooms at a hotel near the Strip, so we figured we could go directly to the hotel, get some dinner and just catch up.

Well, we did do that, but we initially spent one hour travelling to the hotel which was fifteen minutes walking distance from the Airport. That kind of set the tone for the rest of the trip - Pras would tell us to calm down and relax, and enjoy the wild ride he was giving us, while Veera would hang on for dear life at the back. Boss was the navigator in front and I was just watching all three of them and having fun! From my perspective, Boss and Veera remain the same in the four years that I have seen them, while Pras has changed a bit. However, we all quickly got into our comfort level and had a total blast there. I just miss the fact that more people were not with us.

Anyway, we went to Lake Mead and saw the Hoover dam. Boss and Prass turned out to be photography buffs, so they toted around these SLR cameras and started looking for angles and all that stuff. Veera and I helped them in their vocations by posing as hunky models - that's why you will see me or him in all the photos we took! :-). Boss was suitably impressed by the dam and it was indeed a remarkable feat of human spirit, especially during those days. As you can see, we had some stunning views and spent a pleasant hour roaming around the place.


We also spent the night at the Strip, which hosts all the major casinos and hotels. Its a hot and happening place, where you see stretch humvee limousines and dirty rickshaws all at the same time. Guess that's the Vegas atmosphere for you.


I think everyone was enthralled by the musical fountains at the Bellagio. We liked it so much, that we stayed for three shows consecutively. The ambience of the fountain and the music kind of made me feel bad that I was there with three guys!


Then we went to the Stratosphere where Prass and Boss went on some crazy rides. This building is so high, we could pretty much cover the whole view of Vegas with one shot. Let me tell you something about the rides they have here - don't go on them!. I mean, one is called Insanity and the other is called Big Shot or something and they just throw you out of the top of the building! Just seeing the ride made me want to puke. Crazy! But Boss loved it all the same, and went on it twice.


In addition to the sights of Vegas, all of us had real fun in that we just relaxed and spent a lot of time eating, drinking and chatting. This is what I like about going out with good friends. You shouldn't worry too much about which place to see next, or where to eat and all that stuff. Just go out, see a few places then just kick back and chill. I think we guys ate and drank [coffee, that is] more than anything in the two days we were there. Even at the airport, we had to go and get stuff to eat! And while we did talk about marriage and girls, we spent a lot of time on topics ranging from politics, education and technology to Vijaykanth, ex-principal Shanmugam and one sub warden in college who was after a third year student [I forget the name].I think I can safely say that Pras learned more about our class and college in the two days he was with us, than with the four years he was there as a student.


And guys - wish you were with us!