Camping in Tyler State park, TX

I am happy about this weekend for two reasons. First, I bought my second car (Well.. actually the first car is dead). Second, I went camping.

About my car, it's a 1995 Ford Probe and has about 130000 miles on it. The coolest part about the car is it is a manual transmission car and because of which I got it for a ridiculously cheap price of $1000! More car of the pics will soon follow. The car also complies with my policy of not accumulating too much wealth and buying first hand-stuff (some style stuff excluded).



About the camping trip, my boss happens to be bit strict (others would call that behavior *itchy) about taking time off. So I work saturdays (half day actually but more if I feel like it). This sat I worked from 11 to 3, and then came home, cut vegetables, ate a hurried lunch, packed my car and set off to Tyler, located about 110 miles away from Dallas. Remember that i just bought my $1000, 13-year old car about 20 hours ago. So part of the excitement was due to the uncertainty of my car stopping in the middle of the trip or crapping out entirely. The members on this camping trip were myself and P, for whom this was the first camping trip. The car ran fine and the first stop was El Rio Grande to buy the meat for grilling at the campsite. After loading the meat in the cooler and leaving the key on top of the stuff in the boot, I locked the boot to realize a split second later that I have locked up my only key in the boot. Fortunately for us, there was a huge american guy (trucker) who came to the rescue. He used a long metal rod to pry open the window to reach and release the lock lever. It took some time but finally it gave way and opened. I can solemnly swear that it was the best moment of relief - not even when I skipped lunch to complete the homework in my 6th grade for fear of caning by my history teacher :) Then we set out on the long 90 min journey to Tyler.

The Tyler state park is part of the 90+ state parks in Texas and has camping, fishing, hiking, biking, viking (made that up), swimming and boating areas. It has a small lake with a hiking trail around the lake and one in the periphery, 3 designated fishing piers, O/N, RV and equestrian campsites, boating area and swimming areas (though people were swimming everywhere). We pitched our tent when we got there at about 8 PM and started the grill. We went for a small hike around the place but couldnt do much as it was too damn dark. We came back and grilled food and ate and crashed for the day. Next morning, we went hiking around the lake and fished. There was a seasoned Aerican guy (a local from Tyler) who taught us to fish for Bass and Crappie. He also happened to be a antique trader who buys stuff from thieves for low prices and sells them high. He said he had loads of antiques (with Saraswati name on it and lotus shaped candle and incense holders) and wanted me to be his agent in selling them and share a good % of profit with him. His wife was an experienced fisherwoman (angler would have been better) but with a FEW extra pounds and has a tendency to float in the water as she fishes. After that we went to the campstore to buy some postcards and a lapel pin for myself (my usual - postcards sent to myself and P, and lapel pin goes on my cap) and a mug for P. We came back and started on the long trip back home to Dallas.


I look forward to another camping trip very soon. BTW Texas state parks have free fishing with no license required.

Jus finished reading - Ponniyin Selvan

I would say that this is the best book I have read in a very long time. My mom mentioned this book to me about 10 years ago and I got started with a 1990s copy of the book in Tamil, but never got beyond the first page, probably because I was more into English fiction and the idea of reading a romantic novel did not appeal to me. Now, almost 10 years after I put down that book, my interest got kindled again after I watched 'Dasavatharam' movie. The first 10 minutes of the movie portraying the religious intolerance of the Chola king Kulothungan the second made me think a lot about my history - I was always interested in world history and geography, but my own history? Well...this was a perfect excuse to educate myself.

Kindled in my quest, I started reading about the Cholas who ruled the Tamil country at various times during the last 2000 years in Wikipedia. It was amazing to see the extent of development of the Tamil country, the culture, civilization, art, administration and military during the medieval times. Since the invasion and establishment of the Mughal, Rajput and the British empire, the society has undergone radical changes and the once invincible, unconquered Chola empire that ruled from Lanka in the south to Bengal and beyond all the way to cambodia (Kamboja), Indonesia (SriVijaya) and Malaysia had crumbled to a small dot of land in south India. I have read about Tamil literature (I studied Tamil as my second language all the way upto high school) of the past 2000 years and I could say that it paints a stark contrast between the society of those days to today.

The book is set in the 10th century AD Chola empire which with Thanjavur as capital extends from Lanka in the south to the shores of the Tunghabadra river in the northwest (Present day Karnataka) and all the way to Penna river in the northeast (present day Andhra). The story starts with the protagonist Vallavarayan Vandiyadevan , a brave warrior sent by the crown prince Aditya karikalan to deliver his message to the Emperor and his sister Kundavai. The author Kalki takes us on a voyage through the medieval society, narrating the various festivals that take place, the sentiments and beliefs of the people, the architecture of the cities, temples, kings and much more as seen through the eyes of our hero. The story is a potpourri of political conspiracy, heroism, chivalry, romance, seduction, espionage and counter-espionage, sacrifice, trust and betrayal with humor interspersed throughout the book. The book came out in 5 volumes and once I took it up, I could not put it back. I still continue to read up about my ancestors and my land - Tamilnadu. I took a map of South India and tried to trace the places mentioned in the book. I have started to look at my country with a new fondness and pride. I will soon come up with a google earth listing of the places mentioned in the book (.kmg file).

I have a secret interest - the next time I go to India with a solid one month in my hands, I want to take a trip to the places mentioned in the book and try to enjoy the places (some I have already seen) in a new light.

P.S: I read the book online as a pdf file. I can send out the ".pdf" files to anyone interested. Instead you can locate the book here or here.