The concert was really really great. Sadly, my mother had thought there was no photography permitted in the Taj Mahal or at the concert so we left the camera at the hotel. I am extremely heartbroken over this as there were many people taking pictures. Security was walking around talking to some people around us who had taken pictures, but I don't know what they were saying to them. They didn't take the film or anything. It was so very cool I still just can't believe I got to go do it. I think it is one of the best times I have ever had with my mother. She got very nostalgic and cried a bit at the end. I think it is because it is so hard for her to accept how much things have changed. She isn't taking getting older very well. I can sympathize. Today I turn 28.
I played the slot machines and lost. I can't believe some people sit there for hours day after day with so much false hope. It was fun to try it, but even with all the flashing lights and sirens the whole scene was kind of depressing. Most of the gamblers were old folks and they looked like they had been sitting in the same chairs for twenty years just chain smoking and believing that someday the machine would just throw up a huge sum of money at them. I am sure that most everyone there had obtained a "player's card" which sets you up with an account at the hotel. I wonder if someone comes and breaks your legs when you end up in the hole.
Taking the taxi became an unaviodable occurance for us as our hotel was a bit too far to walk to and from. The driver's are insane. I kept thinking that we were going to either get hit or run over people. Weird thing is that people just kept walking out in front of these cabs even though the driver's were showing absolutely no interest in applying the breaks at any time. Some of the backseats in these cabs were extremely questionable. I learned to just sit extremely still. Most of them were okay though. I can't count the number of pet names bestowed on me by the various cab driver's over the course of the two days. I suppose I should have taken being called babe and sweetheart as compliments, but coming from a freaky cab driver it just isn't as endearing.
The whole trip was extremely fast but well worth it. Mom is going to send me a copy of the pictures we took. I just wish like hell I had pictures of the concert.
Posted by gwendolyn on September 01, 2002 at 10:43 AM