Las Vegas: Deep pockets and the gambling instinct
- Independent Ink
- Oct 10
- 2 min read
Travel story: Flashy lights. Flashy wealth. The show goes on. The hunt for new victims, is in full swing.
By Ramsharan Joshi in Las Vegas
I am 82. I set out one optimistic morning, taking off from the deadwood of political analysis, to explore a quest, the variety of Life and Nature. The changing contours of politics are so oppressive it fills you with unbearable and endless fatigue. One becomes insensitive to love. You can no more hear the beauty and sound of nature, and connect with the rainbow of life.
So, I, along with the family, landed in Las Vegas. The evening was approaching and the city started twinkling in neon signs. This city is notoriously popular for the enchantment of casinos. It attracts a flood of rich tourists from around the world.
To burn millions of dollars at the casinos.
The hotels are overcrowded. You will find tourist players humming over the casino counters for luck; a few gamblers triumphant, while most are crestfallen.
The show goes on, and the hunt for new victims, is in full swing.
It is my maiden exposure to this world. Of course, I am acquainted with it through Hollywood movies. How a seasoned gambler plays his game, or how the casino boss applies his tricks to hoodwink the ‘innocent player’ so as to dupe him of his money – we have seen all that.
Gambling in India has been popular in our oral tradition since that dark story from Mahabharata. It reminds me of the most shameful, male chauvinistic story of cheerharan.
The crafty players, Duryodhan, Duhsasana and Shakuni rendered Yudhistir bankrupt and forced Draupadi at the stakes. The ‘cunning’ players of the Kouravas won the game, and the ‘honest’ Pandavs lost their wife. As a result, the infamious cheerharan happened.
Why the Pandavs, especially their ever ‘truthful, honest and principled’ eldest brother, put Draupadi at stake remains a shameful chapter in the entire epic. Whatever happened to their personal and social ethics, their elevated morality? It tells a story.
Duryodhan asked his younger brother Duhsasana to disrobe Draupadi in the darbar and put her on his lap. However, she was mystically rescued by Krishana.
In Las Vegas, gambling in the form of casinos with legal approval is on with the thunderbolt of gigantic exhibitionism -- flashy lights and flashy wealth. In the backdrop are the replicas of the Taj Mahal and Eiffel Tower.
Honestly, I did not try my luck due to moral inhibitions. Of course, I enjoyed the glamour of glittering Las Vegas.
According to our seers, the world is Maya (an illusion). And how do you enjoy the Maya of Las Vegas?
It depends on your wallet, shrewd intelligence, and how deep are your pockets. I lack all three.
Or else, Maya can become a seductive cheat. It can lead you astray. The irony is that we still choose to be in romance with this Mysterious Maya -- despite all the warnings.
This is the first part of a travel series in America.
Ramsharan Joshi is an eminent academic, author and journalist based in Delhi. He was recently travelling in the US and Canada.
Photos by Ramsharan Joshi.