36 Hours of Sin - Chapter 1

Disclaimer : This post may not be suitable for audiences below 18 without parental guidance.

Chapter 1
The Inception
-04 hours to 00 hours

The idea of going to Vegas was seeded long ago (the moment I set foot in the United States, to be precise), but the idea began to take shape only a few weeks back. I realized that it was the perfect time to visit the sin city - free flow of cash (thanks to the internship), absolutely free weekends (thanks to the internship), no assignments and exams and papers and submissions and deadlines (thanks to the internship) and a group of friends split by geographical differences (thanks to the internship) who wanted to come together to experience one hell of a time! And thus, after little deliberation, the plan to go to Vegas was forged. Although I wish the wolfpack was complete, the three of us were enough...enough to do crazy shit! :)

And so I found myself sitting in the cramped and tattered seats of Spirit Airways, which happens to be America's proud version of our very own Air Deccan. Yes, the seats were actually tattered with the seat cover broken at places, exposing the yellow sponge of the cushion underneath, and it wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that the interiors of the plane had an uncanny semblance to the interiors of a semi-deluxe Haryana roadways bus! Although they claimed to be a low cost airline, the tickets were as expensive as the other biggies. (We were compelled because of time constraints. Sigh!) So, I was cramped between an old blonde woman wearing a few clothes and excessive make-up, and a broad shouldered muscular dude with a tatoo of Japanese lettering on his bare forearms. With my i-pod battery discharged and a book that I had finished reading at the airport itself, I was left with nothing to do except close my eyes and relive the movie - Hangover, again and again and again in my mind. And just when Alan was getting tased by the fat kid for the 5th time now, I was disrupted by a very disturbing comment made by the captain of the plane. He said (and I reproduce almost verbatim), "...We'll be a little late to take-off. We had some maintenance on this plane in the morning. So, we are just doing some last minute checks before we get the all clear. Hopefully, everything should be fine...."

The three of us looked at each other with one common expression - 'Hopefully? WTF!'

And although my mind moved over from playing countless repetitions of Hangover to playing countless repetitions of Airframe (that's a Michael Crichton novel...obvious isn't it? :P), the flight was uneventful (thankfully), apart from a few roller coaster simulations due to weather turbulence. The minutes seemed like hours and the hours seemed like days, while I watched the guy in front of me order 5 rounds of Smirnoff shots. And it was during his fifth round that he and his girlfriend began to sway in their seats, and dropped the vodka bottle which came slowly rolling down to my feet. I picked it up and tapped the man on his shoulder.
"You dropped your bottle," I said.
He turned around and with a silly smile on his face, replied in a deep drawling voice, "Thanks man! My girlfriend told me not to drink too much on the plane." He started laughing.
"Err...oh..hmm..yeah," I replied.
"By the way man-" he began his drawl only to stop suddenly. A look of astonishment and surprise came over his misty little eyes, "Dude, what's your high school...where'dya do it?"
"What?" I asked.
"High schoool," he replied slowly, thinking that I didn't understand what he was speaking.
"I...err..." What the hell is he asking, I thought. "I go to college...Purdue," I replied for the lack of anything else meaningful to say.
"Dude...We went to high school at Michigan! Remember me?"
"Uhhh....I don't think so."
He looked at me in shock, as if I had committed a blasphemous act by not recognizing him. But then slowly reality dawned on him.
"Oh, sorry man. I just thought that you were someone I went to school with. Sorry man, I'm drunk. Haha!" He laughed.

It starts here and it never ends! I thought.

Two hours later, the plane began to descend over a sea of red - the Nevada/Arizona desert with miles and miles of unending canyons, mountains and red soil, where neither vegetation grows nor animals dwell. And standing amidst the surrounding barren landscape, a tiny strip of land loomed in front like a mirage. Through the brown dusty haze, I could see the silhouette of buildings...buildings with weird shapes - A Pyramid, A Colloseum, skyscrapers resembling New York, a structure that looked like Seattle's Space needle, and believe it or not, the Eiffel Tower itself!

And thus, in the center of the geographic badlands, lay the 'baddest' lands of them all - Las Vegas!

As the tires of the plane screeched on the burning tarmac, the hefty guy sitting next to me and turned and spoke out, "So, is this your first time to Vegas?"

"Yes," I replied.
"Then you're gonna love it," he smiled mischievously.
"What about you?" I asked.
"I used to live in Vegas. Played professional football here. So, how long will you be here?"
"I'm here just for the weekend."
"Ah! That's sad man. Would've got more girls if you stayed more days." He chuckled and continued, "By the way, where are you staying?"
"MGM."
"Holy shit! Awesome man!" He smiled with that typical 'Kya baat hai!' smile. He continued, "This place is crazy. Every time I'm here, I wake up with a different girl on bed!"
I did not know whether to act astonished or to act horrified, so I simply said, "Oh I see..."
"There are prostitutes everywhere...if you planning on doing them that is," he winked.
"Err...no," I replied.
"Be careful man. This is your first time in Vegas. Take it a little easy. Don't get too carried away with the gambling, booze and the girls."

"We'll see," I smiled back.

And then I stepped out of the plane and into the terminal of McCarran International Airport, Las Vegas.