Sin City.

Las Vegas. A big beautiful city with all the vices that can ever be there in the world. You name it - gambling, booze, girls, etc. Whatever vices it may have, it is a great place to unwind.

My wife and I took off to Vegas for the thanksgiving weekend and I have to admit it, I was scared of Las Vegas for a few minutes. Sin city - reputed for ruining so many people's lives through gambling. I am not a gambler, but I did realize within the first few minutes of playing slot machines how much I hated losing money. Eventually, we did lose most of our money that we set aside as a limit for gambling and got out of the casino floor. 

Las Vegas is not as intimidating as New York is. Las Vegas is in fact far more inviting than New York.I did go to New York too, but it was a bit intimidating. Big tall buildings, a city that never sleeps, stories that we might have heard from people returning back home. However, when you are entering the Las Vegas Boulevard area fondly known as "The Strip", you see all those large hotel casinos that you see on the picture up there. And all the lights and the hustle and bustle of people during the evenings provides an amazing sight.

The fountains at The Bellagio and the gondola ride at The Venetian are two things one shouldn't miss on a romantic getaway. With this being our first trip to Vegas so far, we hardly planned out things that we wanted to do. Hopefully, next time around would be better planned. :D

Las Vegas has a bunch of great restaurants and shows as well. There are some immensely stirring acrobatics that feature in some shows. Ka is the show that we saw during our trip and I must say it was incredible to say the least. Stunning visuals and choreography. Cirque du Soleil caters to each ones tastes and has a lot of variety for people who are interested in shows. And most of these shows happen in theatres located inside a hotel.

Also, Hoover Dam. The dam is located about 40 minutes away from the Las Vegas strip and is one marvellous construction, considering that it was built in the 1920s-1930s, during the peak of the great depression. The dam is the source of water supply to nearly cities in 3 states - Arizona, Nevada and California and is built on the Colorado river, which runs right through the grand canyon. And yes, do not miss the Grand Canyon. We did not get to make the 12 hour round trip to the Canyon and back, but we intend to do it soon.

Getting back to our cities was no fun, especially after Vegas being a great place to visit. Absolutely recommended for a quick getaway, but don't go lose it all!

Remember: What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas!

To walk or not to walk....

Yes, I am back after a pretty long hiatus.. Thanks to a cricketing controversy raging in forums all over the world.

Stuart Broad nicked one and was given not out by the umpire and gotten himself a half century in the process, and against who? The Aussies! Probably one of the greatest hypocritical teams to have ever played Cricket.

There are no rules about walking. For those who don't quite understand what walking is - It means that a batsman can choose to walk away from the pitch if he knows he is out. Honesty. The gentlemanly nature it is said.

A few cricketers do walk if they know they are out. It is not mandatory that every cricketer must do so. I applaud honesty in the cricketing field when there is one. Particularly if it comes from an Aussie. And Adam Gilchrist walked. I did admire him for doing so whenever he did it. There was a semi-final at stake, a place in yet another final in a major ICC tournament and he walked. All those who watched him play know the kind of destruction he can unleash with his bat on any given day. And he walked in a semi-final.

People accused him of starting a "walking-crusade" but then each man's integrity is his own. And speaking of integrity. Michael Clarke played under a man known for his great integrity - Ricky Ponting And Clarke for one should remember the Sydney Test of 2008 when the entire Australian team was very honest. There's a saying "people living in glass houses shouldn't throw stones at others." This will apply to Captain Clarke as well.

In my opinion, a batsman is entitled to wait for the umpire's decision regardless. After all, the ICC pays umpires like Aleem Dar, Marais Erasmus and Kumar Dharmasena (Umpire of the year), who are professionals to do a job, just like working people like you and me are paid to do a job. As far as honesty and integrity are concerned, it would be great to see honest people in Cricket after all that's happening around us - match fixing, spot fixing, corruption, et al. And yes, I do admire such a quality in any cricketer.

One of my friends wrote a status message that Broad should have walked as it was a thick edge and not just a faint nick. Well, I agree, but again - what was the umpire doing? The batsman is always well within his rights to wait for the umpire to make a call. And considering that Australia had used up their reviews, they couldn't review that. Also, there should have been communication from the third umpire saying "that was out", which apparently did not happen.

So, all points considered and given that ICC laws do not say anything that batsmen must walk if they know they are out, I would say the umpires are more at fault than Broad himself. Of course, the bowler would be a little disgruntled, since he has lost the battle anyway.

Oh, BTW - Chris Broad, Stuart Broad's father and ICC Match Referee had suspended Dinesh Ramdin, Windies 'keeper for claiming a catch that wasn't, and what would he have told his son now? Food for thought.