TALES AND TRAILS : TEXAS AND BEYOND

Testimonials

Sreyashrao Surapreddi
Mathew Lal

Sreyashrao Surapreddi

Assistant Professor,

Veermata Jijabai Technological Institute, ( VJTI),

Mumbai - 400019

Tales and Trails: Texas and Beyond is a work that moves far beyond the boundaries of travel writing. It unfolds as a meditation on memory, belonging, and the subtle ways in which ordinary moments acquire meaning when seen through an attentive and affectionate gaze. Mr. Joseph does not simply recount where he travelled; he reflects on what each place awakened within him, and that makes this book quietly profound.

At its heart, the narrative affirms a line I have always loved from Dostoevsky: “To love life more than its meaning.” So often, we search for coherence, structure, or some grand guiding theme behind our experiences. Yet the author reminds us that meaning begins to reveal itself only when we begin to love the moments themselves, the fleeting, tender, unpolished fragments of everyday living. A cup of Texan coffee, the laughter of family assembling a meal, a glass-bottom boat drifting over ancient fissures in San Marcos, these are treated with the same reverence as historic monuments or sweeping landscapes.

Kierkegaard wrote that life is understood backward but lived forward, and the book embodies this beautifully. In the journeys through Austin, San Marcos, Fort Worth, El Paso, and Fossil Rim, memories of Kerala, childhood fears, ancestral folklore, and early family life quietly rise to the surface. Travel becomes a way of returning — not geographically, but inwardly — to the stories and emotions that shaped the author. In this sense, the book is not about discovering America; it is about rediscovering the self through America.

Each journey carries its own uncertainty — a quiet, unspoken fear and trembling that accompanies all who step into the unknown. Yet the author meets each moment with a gentle courage. It is this courage that allows for the book’s most beautiful encounters: with landscapes that evoke wonder, with strangers who become part of the narrative, and with the delicate, often unnoticed gestures of fellow human beings. Through these interactions, the journey becomes not just an exploration of places but a deeper engagement with life itself.

One of the most enchanting threads running through the narrative is the blending of cultures and folklore. Migration becomes less about movement across borders and more about carrying the emotional weight of multiple worlds within oneself. These connections are never forced; they arise gently, as though the author is showing us that beneath the surface of every culture lies the same human quest for protection, continuity, and meaning.

The chapters on Tex Carson’s ranch and the Fort Worth Stockyards are especially memorable. Through these scenes, the author reveals that heritage is not something preserved in isolation; it evolves, adapts, and survives through the stories people choose to carry forward. Equally striking are the moments of stillness and the conversations in the novel. These scenes are described with such sincerity that they linger long after the page is turned.

In the end, Tales and Trails is less a record of places visited and more an invitation: to look again at our own lives, to notice how meaning quietly forms around us, and to honour the stories that shape us across generations. It is a reminder that the extraordinary is often hidden within the ordinary, and that the most enduring journeys are the ones that teach us to love life in its simplest, most immediate form.

For people who treasure reflection, who believe that travel is as much about the inner world as the outer one, this book offers a warm, thoughtful, and deeply human companion — one that stays with you long after the journey ends. It asks to be read with an understanding heart, and in doing so, it gently encourages us to rediscover the beauty of our surroundings and to cherish the conversations with friends and family that have grown so rare in today’s hurried world.

Mathew Lal

Associate Professor (Retd)

Fr. C. Rodrigues Institute of Technology (FCRIT),

Navi Mumbai

Tales and Trails: Texas and Beyond is a well-written book. The preparations, excitement, and emotions that an ordinary person carries when life offers such an opportunity — and the many embraces that mark the journey — are vividly portrayed. The reader can truly visualise, to a great extent, the journey from Mumbai to Texas.

The author’s curiosity about the life of cowboys is both refreshing and engaging. Spending an entire day with Tex Carson adds authenticity and depth to the narrative. The drive through the dense forests of East Texas, the endless stretch of trees, the thrill of witnessing a live Formula One race and seeing a young mechanic work with an artist’s finesse — each scene is captured with striking clarity.

From the Asian store to Washington DC and other iconic places across the United States, the experiences are narrated in a way that holds the reader’s interest page after page. The book offers a genuine and heartfelt glimpse of United States of America through the eyes of the author.

A compelling and memorable read.