High ways for casino

17th July,2013

My Dear Kush,

As I have not seen any casino, I was interested to see any of this in this country. In America also , it is not permitted in all the provinces- there are some which consider it as illegal and does not permit its operations while other states have permitted casino .

You know that casino or gambling activity is completely prohibited in India . This strict action is related to our mythological event where gambling resulted in loss of whole kingdom . In  "Mahabharat" the story goes that  Pandavs were given barren place to establish their new kingdom as Duryodhan was not willing to share any piece of land from Hastnapur. This barren field was turned in a beautiful place and named "Indra Prastha " (present part of Delhi ) and Pandavs were happy in their world. Then Duryodhan invited Yudhisthar- king of Indra Prastha, for chosar or gamble; in those days, it was tradition to accept such invitations and was considered against Kshatriya dharma to turn down the offer. Therefore, Yudhisthar has to accept the invitation and during the play , Duryodhan handed his dice to his Shakunee mamma who mischievously played the game resulting in loss of not only the kingdom, themselves but Draupadi also ; you are well aware about the consequences of this event which is really the main turning point of this great epic. As this memory of devastation of Pandavs due to gambling still haunts Indians, gambling has been prohibited in all the families ,afterwards.

 

But America is not India , neither linked in any way with its history hence some  provinces have permitted casino - a place for enjoyment for their and other citizens.

 

We made the program to visit the casino in the evening of this  Friday .It is in a different province and about 150  miles (not kilometer) away from our residence. We all went to visit the casino though persons below the age of 21 years are not allowed to gamble.

 

Your mausajee was driving the car in the highway leading to the place. All the way, I could see well maintained roads which were four lane; there were indications  for gas ,mobil (petrol pump), food, and roads leading  to these places. There were also roads going to  Rest places -where you can stop your car and may take rest ; on the roads , you are not permitted to stop your car. Again there was indications for "Exit" which will take you away from highway and you will enter in some town . Mostly there were cars and cars though I could see occasionally trucks moving ; interestingly, you will not hear sound of horn from any car as they do not use it ,rather using horn is considered a bad manner ; so I have seen cars stopping beside yours and waiting when you move;  (likewise if you are crossing a door and another person is coming, it is a bad manner to leave the door , rather you keep hold the door and allow the other person also to pass)  . But I could not see public transport or buses running on the high-way- does it mean that  buses are not running between the cities. It is not so, your mausi told us that there are different roads for carrying buses. In all the route, we could not see any Railway crossing , or tolltax plaza or speed breakers. Again, there were no agriculture farms seen on the road sides -there you will see trees and trees or forest ; I was not thinking that this country will have so much forest area. on both sides of the roads , there are only large trees or forests.. We also crossed some towns but all appeared identical with absence of any person on the road or even watching from the door.

In one sense, the whole journey appeared monotonous as there was no change  during the whole journey. There is a great difference if you cover this much distance in India. First, there is no high way which do not have any journey break-either in shape of railway crossing or tolltax place ; you will see all types of transport system -mostly buses, trucks and occasionally cars ; the speed is also not fast, generally it is 70-80 KPH while same is in miles in the state. Occasionally, you enter in some tahseel or district and you will see the roads  full of persons of different colors. Even shops are arranged in different manners in every city. Dress of persons also changes  as per location and how much the place is advanced. Both bus and car will stop somewhere, may be a "Dhawa" to take a cup of tea or some snacks but this practice is absent here . There ,if you are making journey at the  end of summer, you may smell 'mitti ki khushbu" which comes when rain drops start pouring on hot soil. You may see and smell 'baur' on mango tree  if you are travelling in Feb or March or may witness 'tessu' flowers all where as if whole earth is emitting fire. But no such scenes  will be observed while travelling in America ,even if you are travelling 100 or 200 miles on the high ways. So, every country has its own models, fashions and nature and it is up-to you whether you appreciate the present place and scenario or put yourself in past memories, forgetting your present. By this way, you looses a good opportunity of enjoying new surroundings and new places.
By travelling on this high way for about 2 hours, we reached to the city exhibiting large sized hotels and many casino. We shifted our car to one of these casino.....