Las Vegas – Enjoying The City
I will try and pep up the blog with my insights into life and points of view that keep swinging wildly on a regular basis as I interact with people and experience the relationship. The basic impression I got about the show after scanning through all he stalls is that the wireless industry is cashing in on a basic human trait called laziness. People are lazy to do different things with different tools and prefer to use one for all the functions and that is the mobile phone which is like a companion to them. So everything is being thought on the premise that mobile phone is the woman’s best friend and men’s arm candy (want to show it off to people around).Initially it was just a device to stay connected on a voice channel, then they added data with SMS. The transformation to playing games, managing appointments, listening to music n viewing pictures & video was predictable, but adding a camera to that was a touch of genius. Now the guys are going crazy and adding mobile TV and video on demand kind of applications to the existing lot. Now they want the phone to replace the computer, so imagine the kind of activity that is going on in the industry. I was zapped with the kind of applications that were showcased, security camera controlling, bar code scanning, phone used as credit card swipe machines. I can go on but I guess its getting a little boring. This paragraph was for the tech people.Why the mobile phone is woman’s best friend and at the same time man’s arm candy? Women love staying in touch with their partners almost all the time, sometimes all the time. I gives them a sense of control on the partner, checking on who is he meeting with what is he eating, where is he going, whom is he talking to, what is he talking about..Else why would this question: who was that Honey? pop up as soon as men finish off a ‘longer than 5 minute’ conversation with someone on the phone. The men have no option now but pick up the phone when the call is from home (thanks to the callerID function), else what were you doing sweet heart, why did you not pick up the phone? women also turned the phones into love meters, you haven’t messaged me since yesterday, called only twice in 2 days, you don’t love me anymore, poor men, they are stuck
Men – don’t underestimate them, they appear dumb and act like the women is in total control, but they have their own ways to have fun. The ringtones and caller tunes are set to please the partner, have THE photo (either Ferrari or Ashwairya Rai) as the wall paper. They love bragging to their buddies about the technical features in the phone (GPRS, WiFi, Bluetooth, EDGE, 3G) and also share X-rated videos n jokes with their friends. They also love to change the phone every 6 months but in reality change it every 2 years. Every new model is like a new girl friend spend a lot of time trying to understand initially after a while lose interest.
I guess that was way out of the topic, but since it came up I thought I will write. OK coming back to the show, apart from understanding new tech we met some of our existing and potential suppliers for delivering SMS in USA & Canada and understood what the carriers in USA do to earn revenue from he SMS channel, and we are looking at ways to tap into that premium SMS market in the USA. One of the suppliers was hosting a huge party at one of the Casinos called MGM Grand and invited us to the party. After finishing off business for the day we headed for the party.
We maintained our Indian timing and went in 45 minutes late, the party hall was huge but more or less filled with people. We took a couple of drinks and sat in a corner waiting for some angel investor to come to us and ask us about what we do and as soon I finish telling him, he is so exited about the business potential and is ready to invest 5 million dollars for a small stake. For some reason that did not happen, and we were still sitting in the corner all by ourselves and talking about how we can crack the huge US market with our great ideas. This usually happens when we start drinking, It definitely is not the effect of alcohol but the feeling that we are relaxing and ready to take on big things in life. Makes you feel good to think that you were born special and that you are going to create history by trying to do things which no one else in this world could even think of. Fantasies are always pleasing to the mind.
The other fantasy I had while sitting there (I am sure Raju was having similar ones) was that this gorgeous looking, sexy to the extent that the very definition of sex is she, half drunk lady comes up to the corner, ignores everyone around and asks me for a dance. Again I fail to understand why this did not happen, and we were the only 2 lone Indians in the whole hall sitting there and trying to get drunk. After about an hour dance performance by a group of scantily dressed women started. They were performing acrobatics and dancing to the song of a live female singer. This was more like a theatre performance and such hot shows are a regular feature of Las Vegas.
After about half hour of watching the show we left, hoping to find better things, actually finding a SIM card. Enquired on the road and started walking with 2 heavy laptops, based on information from security guards and store keepers. After walking for about 2 KMs we realized that it as a mistake.
We kept walking for another 3 Kms before we came to the Fashion Show Mall at 10 PM where phone cards are sold, but the mall closes at 9. so after 2 hrs of physical effort the result was negative but we kind of enjoyed the journey, looking at the massive building and looking at people wanting to have fun. We also watched a live show performed in front of “Treasure Island” a casino and resort, which is done to promote the casino and is only performed twice every day. The show is set against a Sea backdrop where an all women ship is attacked by an all men pirate ship, and how the women stop the men from attacking by seducing them and finally sink the pirate ship with their charm. There were lot of fireworks with both ships firing their cannons and actually destroying parts of the ship, the technology used was amazing. The pirate ship actually sank into the water before our very eyes.
As we walked along the most important road in Las Vegas called the STRIP, I wondered why is that human beings want to remain happy or occupied with some brain activity that keeps them away from thinking about their misery. Can’t we do NOTHING and still remain happy accepting the miserable state we are in. I guess that is the reason we gamble, get drunk, disco and party to run away from facing the reality and fooling ourselves that we are happy with what we are doing now. I don’t know.
We reached the hotel by midnight after a great day of work and fun completely exhausted.
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