Lake Tawakoni - Reservoir which looks like an ocean!

Yesterday we visited Lake Tawakoni State Park, sited deep in the countryside of Hunt County of Texas. Though it is sited less than 100 miles from Dallas, the drive is through several tiny villages and towns. Since spring is just starting, the weather was not too hot and lush greenery could be seen all around, hence we could enjoy the drive without feeling hot and bothered. According to Texas Parks and Wildlife website, this is one hell of a big lake. The water spans across 36,700 surface-acres and stores the waters of Sabine river. When we visited the lake it was very very windy, due to which waters of the lake were as choppy as a stormy sea. Here are some pictures of this wonderful lake.
Like all other state parks in Texas there are numerous recreation and leisure facilities available. Clean bathrooms, trash pick up sites, camp grounds and electrified camp sites (luxury in the wild???)... biking trails, walking paths, etc are available. But my favorite is of course the vast sandy swimming beach where one can enter the water and enjoy to the heart's content. The love of water is inbuilt in me, belonging to the fishy zodiac sign.

"Insight" from the heart

I received this anthology from its author Mr.PKN Panicker a while ago and finished reading it too. But today as I was flipping through the pages of this wonderfully Insightful volume I felt that I must share some of my thoughts about this book.

First thing writing poetry and publishing it is not a joke, be it in India or anywhere in the world. There are just not enough takers and it would be difficult to sell even modest print run of 1,000 copies unless the poems are written by a well known celebrity poet. But there are several wonderful communities and support groups both online and offline which help and encourage these poets to get published. One group known as Glorious Times is where I interacted with Mr. Panicker. When he came to know I like reading poetry and am a budding poet he just took my address and sent me a copy of his book Insight.

Insight is a compilation of 30 poems written by chemical engineer and prolific writer PKN Panicker. Apart from the volume I am talking about he has written several other books such as Our Earth, Swami Vivekananda, and another anthology of English poems titled Random Reflections. Well if you are already amazed, be prepared for more, Panicker is not just a writer in English, he has written several essays in his mother tongue of Malayalam.

I would like to quote a small portion of one of the poems in Insight. Being a traveller I am quoting from a poem titled Picnic.

Picnic, a picnic,
We shall plan ahead,
to avoid left-outs,
irritations, disappointments,
to make the picinc
lively and enjoyable.

Picnic, yes, a picnic,
I have gone on picnics
earlier too on picnics
with Mom and Dad
with sister and brother,
picnic, lovely and enjoyable.

If you like this I am sure you will enjoy the book. Contact Window Publishers, 35, Sir, P.S. Sivaswamy Salai, Chennai 600 004, India and get your own copy.
Price: Rs.100 (US$2.5)