After so many trips to Vegas, it occured to me that it has almost become a pilgrimage. I shouldn't be really saying this since I don't really go there to gamble or anything. Yet, I don't fully understand why I keep going there. I guess it is just a get away place. I am tempted to compare the Vegas trips to our annual Tirupathi trips back in India. Whatever happens in a year, there is at least a couple of days when our family lands in Tirupathi. Here is my attempt to compare Vegas and Tirupathi.
At the outset, one of them is referred to as the Sin City and other one is widely known as a Holy City - that seems like a really big difference - a night and day difference, but they seem to have some superficial similarities :) The sound of gamblers winning money in slot machines is very much like the sound of temple bells in Tirupathi. People get up early morning in both places to offer their money to their respective Lords :) Gambling goes on all night. There is early morning gambling as well, just like there is an early morning special darshan, with some pooja. The path to the Holy City is rather windy, very much unlike the straight roads that lead you to doomsdays of losing your money in the Sin City. Either the slot machine or the Hundi gulps your money :) I'm not being blasphemious here....so just read this for what it is worth.
Tirupathi may be even coined as Indian Vegas for the amount of money it collects. People just come and dump all their wealth into the Hundi hoping that good will happen in their lives at a later point. Except in Vegas, people dump all their money hoping that they'll collect more before they leave Vegas - stuff that seldom happens! But there is still a finite chance that you'll pick up money from Vegas. This can never happen in Tirupathi. If you have been to Vegas and didn't get to see the Bellagio fountain, it is like you missed the Darshan in Tirupathi. Both places shine with a lot of light and are always bubbling with activity. They both manage to attract quite a lot of crowd - both rich and poor wanting to improve their chances in live regardless of their status in society. The songs that they play for the fountain mostly remind me of that one constant annoying song that is always played in Tirupathi - Sreeranga....manasaswarami....Even the God himself would have got bored of this tune by now. People need to be more creative and give him better tunes every now and then. There is some construction or the other happening at both places, in the name of making the place better and indirectly more attractive to a lot more poeple so that they can come and dump their money.
But for the Lord's presence, there would be little interest in the monkey ridden seven mountains. There would be far less interest in visiting the desert if not for Vegas! You pay more money to get FREE laddus just like you pay more money to get free entertainment. Both are places that families from all over the country visit with newborn kids, except that they don't tonsure the kid's head in Vegas. "Mottai aagarthu" is just a feeling in Vegas as opposed to a reality in Tirupathi. "Govinda Govinda" refers to money lost in Vegas :)
The line for having laddus is definitely longer than the one for having food in Vegas. There are attractive shops wherever you walk. Remember to inform people that you're going there or else you have a chance of running into them at that very place! The whole experience includes talking to people that you went there, how many times you went there and how much money you've lost over the years. It is almost like you visit Tirupathi, put money there to have a very bright future and to earn very well and drop all the earnings in Vegas later. There seems to be a big economic tie up between the two places. May be the money dropped at either place reaches the other side through the earth's core, who knows. Ideally the money dropped would perform simple harmonic motion between the two places if there were a big tunnel through the earth's core without the molten rocks. I think I'm digressing here.
Vegas is a place where every Hindu and every Buddhist assembles during Christmas time :) Slot machines are regular stuff like Dharma Darshan...playing Black Jack and losing money is like buying something expensive and dropping it in the Hundi, without directly dropping money itself. Both places are at a high elevation - I don't know how high Tirupathi is, but Vegas is at about an elevation of 4000 feet. You stop at Barstow to take a break like you stop at that obscure little town to have that tiffin and coffee when you're riding on that Andhra bus. Both are a must. You can't imagine a journey to Vegas without a stop at Barstow and going past the Zzyzx road. God knows who named that road. Looks like they ran out of alphabets. "I won so much this time" sounds much similar to "I really had a special darshan this time" :) I am reminded of "jarugandi jarugandi" - you go all the way to Tirupathi to have a great darshan and all you get is a minute or so in front of the Lord.
Either way, it is belief that drives people to both places. Belief that you'll end up better after the trip. In the case of Vegas, people get to know immediately what they were destined for though. After several trips you do get to learn that life is a big averager, no matter how much time you've spent inside the dimly lighted Santum Sanctorum or the Casinos.
At the outset, one of them is referred to as the Sin City and other one is widely known as a Holy City - that seems like a really big difference - a night and day difference, but they seem to have some superficial similarities :) The sound of gamblers winning money in slot machines is very much like the sound of temple bells in Tirupathi. People get up early morning in both places to offer their money to their respective Lords :) Gambling goes on all night. There is early morning gambling as well, just like there is an early morning special darshan, with some pooja. The path to the Holy City is rather windy, very much unlike the straight roads that lead you to doomsdays of losing your money in the Sin City. Either the slot machine or the Hundi gulps your money :) I'm not being blasphemious here....so just read this for what it is worth.
Tirupathi may be even coined as Indian Vegas for the amount of money it collects. People just come and dump all their wealth into the Hundi hoping that good will happen in their lives at a later point. Except in Vegas, people dump all their money hoping that they'll collect more before they leave Vegas - stuff that seldom happens! But there is still a finite chance that you'll pick up money from Vegas. This can never happen in Tirupathi. If you have been to Vegas and didn't get to see the Bellagio fountain, it is like you missed the Darshan in Tirupathi. Both places shine with a lot of light and are always bubbling with activity. They both manage to attract quite a lot of crowd - both rich and poor wanting to improve their chances in live regardless of their status in society. The songs that they play for the fountain mostly remind me of that one constant annoying song that is always played in Tirupathi - Sreeranga....manasaswarami....Even the God himself would have got bored of this tune by now. People need to be more creative and give him better tunes every now and then. There is some construction or the other happening at both places, in the name of making the place better and indirectly more attractive to a lot more poeple so that they can come and dump their money.
But for the Lord's presence, there would be little interest in the monkey ridden seven mountains. There would be far less interest in visiting the desert if not for Vegas! You pay more money to get FREE laddus just like you pay more money to get free entertainment. Both are places that families from all over the country visit with newborn kids, except that they don't tonsure the kid's head in Vegas. "Mottai aagarthu" is just a feeling in Vegas as opposed to a reality in Tirupathi. "Govinda Govinda" refers to money lost in Vegas :)
The line for having laddus is definitely longer than the one for having food in Vegas. There are attractive shops wherever you walk. Remember to inform people that you're going there or else you have a chance of running into them at that very place! The whole experience includes talking to people that you went there, how many times you went there and how much money you've lost over the years. It is almost like you visit Tirupathi, put money there to have a very bright future and to earn very well and drop all the earnings in Vegas later. There seems to be a big economic tie up between the two places. May be the money dropped at either place reaches the other side through the earth's core, who knows. Ideally the money dropped would perform simple harmonic motion between the two places if there were a big tunnel through the earth's core without the molten rocks. I think I'm digressing here.
Vegas is a place where every Hindu and every Buddhist assembles during Christmas time :) Slot machines are regular stuff like Dharma Darshan...playing Black Jack and losing money is like buying something expensive and dropping it in the Hundi, without directly dropping money itself. Both places are at a high elevation - I don't know how high Tirupathi is, but Vegas is at about an elevation of 4000 feet. You stop at Barstow to take a break like you stop at that obscure little town to have that tiffin and coffee when you're riding on that Andhra bus. Both are a must. You can't imagine a journey to Vegas without a stop at Barstow and going past the Zzyzx road. God knows who named that road. Looks like they ran out of alphabets. "I won so much this time" sounds much similar to "I really had a special darshan this time" :) I am reminded of "jarugandi jarugandi" - you go all the way to Tirupathi to have a great darshan and all you get is a minute or so in front of the Lord.
Either way, it is belief that drives people to both places. Belief that you'll end up better after the trip. In the case of Vegas, people get to know immediately what they were destined for though. After several trips you do get to learn that life is a big averager, no matter how much time you've spent inside the dimly lighted Santum Sanctorum or the Casinos.
No comments:
Post a Comment