Recently, I went on a four-day trip to Las Vegas and the Grand Canyon, with eighteen relatives from India. The group was mainly cousins, uncles, aunts, and a two-year old baby (my cousin’s; I left my own kid at home). Some were from Delhi and Bombay, but others were from smaller towns in Punjab and elsewhere.
The biggest surprise for me was realizing that many of my relatives were awed by the lights and sounds of Las Vegas — and only modestly impressed by the Grand Canyon. You can kind of see why: the New Las Vegas is obsessed with showing off its grand, pseudo-classy facades (i.e., the fountain show at the Bellagio that Steven Soderbergh admires so much), while downplaying both the less glamorous past and the seediness that still exists in the fringes, in places like “downtown” Las Vegas. To a first-time visitor, it might be easy to miss how pseudo the new Vegas really is.
In the casinos themselves, I saw lots of Desis in the older, cheaper casinos on the north end of the strip — where the table minimums are $1 or $2. I didn’t see quite as many in the Bellagio, where the minimum bets start at $20 and go up (considerably) from there. Personally, I am not really that into gambling, so my favorite casino is still Circus Circus: give me Whac-A-Mole over Roulette, any day. At least you’re likely to walk away with a prize (i.e., a teddy bear), rather than a big hole in your pocket where your life-savings used to be.
In terms of cuisine, we went twice for satisfying lunch buffets at India Oven, at the north end of the strip. (Is it the only Indian restaurant on the Las Vegas strip? I didn’t see any others) There weren’t many options at the Grand Canyon, so we ate at Denny’s (which was a flop; my relatives really didn’t like it) and Pizza Hut (better).
Speaking of Desis on the Strip — since there are already so many Desis visiting Vegas, why not a Desi-themed casino? There’s already the lightly Morroccan-themed Sahara and the heavily Egyptian Luxor, the pseudo-Italian Venetian (where you can even go for a gondola ride), and the pseudo-French Paris. Donald Trump already has the pseudo-Desi Trump Taj Mahal in Atlantic City, so maybe we could step out on a limb and call it… Maharajah? (Las Vegas is already completely defined by kitschy appropriations and simulations of real places and cultures — why not embrace it?) If I had $1 billion to invest in a casino in Las Vegas, I would model my Maharajah on the Lake Palace at Udaipur, except in Las Vegas — unlike Udaipur — the lake would actually have water in it.
We taking my parents to Italy this summer and Mom really wants to see Switzerland. She’s not even a Bollywood fan, but is just consumed with visitng Switzerland. We keep telling them that there are plenty of places in North America like the Canadian rockies that are at least as beautiful as the Swiss alps, but that’s pretty irrelevant to them. It seems to be a rite of passage.
GAYLORD!!
No, that is not a insult, but the name of the Indian restaurant inside the Rio. I didnt go inside, but it looked really nice, with stone carving’s of elephants and all the other cliche’s you can think of. They have one here in the Chicago land and it is very good.
And another thing. How could you take people straight from India to Las Vegas? Didnt you guys get porn thrown at you guys from all the guys handing out prostitute cards. How did you get over that awkwardness? I suspect alot of nervous laughter and the pharse “this is no good!” being tossed around alot.
From chachaji:
I live at the Jersey Shore, on Long Beach Island, and I have NO idea why there are so many desis in AC (lots of motels, cheap jobs and close to NYC?) but I for one am relieved they are there because otherwise I’d have to drive to either Philly or Edison for desi groceries. I went to a place in Absecon and loaded up on veggies like ginger, cilantro, limes, jalapenos, and a case of mangos, and it came to UNDER $10. The Mangos alone were $6, so the veggies clocked in below $5. The Shop-Rite wanted $.69 for just one piece of ginger!
I also always see little desi kids waiting alongside the hotels dotting US-30 in Absecon, waiting for the school bus in the morning. Its awesome.
Yeah, and that is why the Komaon and Garhwal hills, not to mention northeast India, are perpetually crowded with tourists.
I forgot to add Himachal Pradesh and, as far as it is possible due to terrorism and other issues, Kashmir and Ladakh.
I visited Himachal Pradesh once – it was in the dead of winter – so beautiful and so many Indian tourists; Quite the place for newly weds. I was traveling by myself and very single and I kept getting asked by young couples, women with the red mark of a newly-wed on their forehead with their young man, to take pictures of them. sigh… made me want to come back after I meet the right person.
And another thing. How could you take people straight from India to Las Vegas? Didnt you guys get porn thrown at you guys from all the guys handing out prostitute cards. How did you get over that awkwardness? I suspect alot of nervous laughter and the pharse “this is no good!” being tossed around alot.
I left out the earlier chapter, where we traveled to and from North Carolina for my brother’s wedding the week before. But yeah, it was a little surreal. One of my grown-up cousins from a small town went a bit bug-eyed one time when we walked past the pool at the Sahara — yes, women really do wear bikinis at swimming pools! (And no, you shouldn’t stare.)
We only had one encounter with the guys handing out those hooker cards — maybe Vegas has kicked them off the lower part of the strip? Or maybe it was just blind luck…
My favorite Vegas desi incident was when I wasn’t sure I wanted to go gawk at some high-end boutique at the MGM Grand/Mandalay bay…while I was dithering, I saw this very traditional 70+ year old Guju aunty confidently walk in, check out all there was to offer and walk out in under 2 min. Go Guju aunty…
I went to Las Vegas my senior year of high school for New Years. It was totally pimp, one of the best vacations I have ever had.
i can recommed the bone-in ribeye steak at charlie palmers. it’s massive. for more refinement, picasso’s at the belagio rivals the best in nyc and paris. and you can literally spill your wine on an actual picasso.
I’ve only been to Vegas once, when they had started to clean it up, but there was still a fair amount of seediness left. Back then you could get great deals at pawnshops – machine tools, musical instruments, firearms, and of course jewelry, especially wedding jewelry dirt cheap. It amused the hell out of me.
What!!!??? There’s no water in the lake around “Lake Palace”? What the heck!! Well, atleast you gave us a heads up – we’re heading out there in three weeks.
aa, to be fair, that was several years ago. You might want to check the tourist review websites to see what people are saying about it today. (Maybe they’ve fixed the problems they were having — when I went there it was mostly a small pond surrounded by acres of mud that used to be the lake.)
I remember when I first got on the strip an SUV drove by and some woman rolled down the window and flashed all of us. Anyways I was wondering what the Indian version of Las Vegas is? Do they even have casinos in India?
64,
Only 1 in Goa that I know of called Nuggets
Amardeep: “many of my relatives were awed by the lights and sounds of Las Vegas”
I am a world traveller, and I am still awed at the audacity and unabashed luxury of Vegas every time I am on the Strip. To this 54-year old immigrant, Vegas epitomizes American chutzpah. I mean OUR very desi American chutzpah, not anybody else’s. Why am I being so analytical? Vegas is so much adult fun, and that’s that! My wife and I love bar hopping till two in the morning, catching acts along the way, something we are too proper to do back in our hometown. So it is true. What goes on here, stays here!
Hey Amardeep, my ambition is to take my extremely well travelled, 81-year old dad to show him the one city that beats everything he has ever seen. Maybe this year.
I recommend a movie though. And since no Indian man has the last name Samunder, the movie will have to be called Roshan’s 11: No quarters given. (I said quarters, you know, for the slot machines, because we’re too cheap to play anything else).
Of course, the leader will be, who else, Amitabh Bachchan. The movie will have to be set in the Mandalay (since I’ve never been to Vegas, I’ll assume) which has hot, steamy jungles replete with lots of trees to cavort around and birds to cut to at appropriate moments. One nice thing about a Bollywood movie set in Vegas is that the musical numbers for the shows fit right in.
The modus operandi of the good guys of course will involve Amitabh Bachchan walking in at the climax and destroying the casino by his customary chewing of the scenery. Salman will stun all the guards by whipping off his shirt and waving it frantically above his head, while Hrithik will wave his second thumb at the few remaining sane visitors. This guy will then find his way into the elevators, replace the video feed to the call center guys in Bangalore, and while the evil casino owner is busy looking for the heist-meisters, they will all wear a hat a la Thomas Crown and walk out unscathed.
9:Chachaji:But the thing that struck me at Atlantic City was how many desis were working for the casinos – as dealers, cash counters, security guards, and so on. I was stunned by the sheer numbers. Both men and women; and Gujaratis, Bengalis, Punjabis, Tamils (all the main groups) seemed very well represented. Anybody know what the, er, deal is on that?
Why be confused by this? There is an insanely large South Asian population in NJ, and Atlantic City offers a lot of jobs with flexible hours and minimum requirements for English. I think it’s great that South Asian immigrants are hard working and willing to work hard, snatch up motels and businesses along the shore.
Anyway, I’ve never been to Vegas, but Atlantic City a million times since college. I’ve always laughed at the congregation of Desi visitors at Trump Taj with video cameras. People this is not real!! And, it’s crazy how you can go into one of the other casinos and not see any desis w/cameras.
BTW, Atlantic City has become really cool these days.. in the summer, the hotels have beach bars, live bands and there are outlets behind the boardwalk. We were walking around amazed that we were in Atlantic City.
Do the AC casinos use the Griffin book.
you require only half a billion I will put the remaining half
attractive indian waitresses not wairing enough, flirting with the patrons, etc.
and attractive indian waitors for the ladies. how can i forget…