The book is called Tips and Tales for Travellers but right at the onset the author, Dr Hiru Bijlani tells you quite candidly that the focus in on air travel. Dr Bijlani is a management consultant and specialises in international business. It naturally follows that he is a frequent flier and has a wealth of personal experiences and lessons-well-learnt to relate.

The anecdotes and facts that Bijlani provides is quite interesting. He talks about how certain routes are so much in demand that the competing airlines use different ways and means to coax the passenger on board. Like the Virgin Atlantic Airlines that does the London-US route. If you are flying across for a special occasion, they ensure that you don't worry about a new suit. Instead, they take care of it for you. Apparently, on board they have an assistant who takes your size and faxes your measurements to his counterpart at the other end, so that the minute you land you have your new dress or suit ready.

He tells you about the time he was travelling on a domestic flight in West Africa, when a woman walked in with pots, pans and a squawking chicken and deposited them on his lap before sitting next to him. Much like a villager walking into an interstate bus within India.

He informs you that if you are prone to dandruff, it will get pronounced during and after a long flight because of the dryness of the atmosphere with the confines of an aircraft. All these relatively unknown details would be quite interesting for an infrequent traveller.

It's not all tales either. Bijlani also gives you some practical tips. Like how not to get conned into accepting any less from airline authorities when you are stranded somewhere on account of a delayed flight.

The book also tells you how to fight jet lag. One of the many options is to soak up daylight, failing which you are asked to sit under a 150 watts bulb and get the same effect. You don't question his authority about the 150 watts. You just assume that as a frequent flier, he must have tried this method enough times to know.

The book also has various tables that come in as a handy reckoner. A table of oft-used phrases, in English, German, French, Japanese, Arabic and Chinese. A table of international telephone services available. The chart of various country codes. Comparative charges of shoes and dress sizes available in various countries.

Even the size of the book is just right. Not exactly a pocket book but one you can easily slip into your bag or the inner pocket of your coat. It's also written in a lucid manner.

So, finally, is it the best book in travel to refer to? Unfortunately, no. The book is not pretentious. It's exactly what it says it is. Tips and Tales for Travellers. But you wish it was either tips or tales. Bijlani seems like a storehouse of information. His tales are absorbing and cleverly drafted.

But you cannot lose yourself in them. Because, just when you are about to settle down to a good read, in crops a reference chart. And just when you find that the charts and tables are interesting, and you flip the page for more details, another tale beings.

We can't say you didn't warn us, Dr Bijlani, so we can't really complain. But the next time, you feel like sharing your in-depth knowledge, do it in parts.