THE ACCIDENTAL TOURIST(Moments)

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Bill Bryson was born in Des Moines, Iowa, USA in 1951. His bestselling books include The Road to Little Dribbling, Notes from a Small Island, A Walk in the Woods. William Bryson is an American–British author of books on travel, the English language, science, and other non-fiction topics. His new book The Body: A Guide for Occupants is an extraordinary exploration of the human body which will have you marvelling at the form you occupy.

GLOSSORY

Alley – a narrow passage-way between or behind buildings
Yanked – pulled with the jerk
Consternation – worry
Extravagantly – excessively
Cascade – waterfall
Concourse – the open central are in a large public building (here airport)
Disgorging – discharging
Gashed – cut deeply
Hysterics – a fit of uncontrollable laughing or crying
Exasperation – irritation
Catastrophe – a terrible disaster
Bons mots – witty remarks
Suave – polite and sophisticated
Venerable – valued
Bill – William (the letter W is changed to B and William is called Bill)
Viva-voce – a spoken examination
Sine Dine – without a date being fixed.
Resume – a brief summary
Rapport – close relationship with good understanding
Bona-fide – genuine
Cheetah – A word originated from Sanskrit meaning uniquely marked.
Catamaran – A word derived from Tamil a multi hulled water craft.

1.     Give a few instances of Byron’s confused acts.
He would end up standing in an alley on the wrong side of a self-locking door trying to locate a restroom in a cinema theatre. He would go to the hotel desk two to three times a day asking what was his room number.

2. What were the contents of the bag?
The contents of the bag were frequent flyer cards, newspaper cuttings, loose papers, tobacco pipes, magazines, passports, English money, and film.

3. Describe the fluttery cascade of things tumbling from the bag.
A hundred carefully sorted documents came running down in a fluttery cascade.

4. Why did the author’s concern over tobacco shift to his finger?
When the author saw the racing tobacco box disgorging its content, he worried about the need to buy expensive tobacco in England. But when he saw his own bleeding finger that he had gashed while forcefully opening the jammed zip, he shifted his cry to his finger.

5. What happened to Byron when he learned to tie his shoelace?
When Bryson leaned to tie his shoelace, just at that moment the person in the seat in front of him threw his seat back into full recline. Bryson was pinned in the crash position.

6. How did Byron free himself from the crash position?
He had to claw at the leg of the man sitting next to him in order to get himself freed.

7. Give a brief account of the embarrassing situation of Bryson when he knocked down the drink.
During one of his flight Journey, he was sitting beside a sweet little lady and he happened to knock a soft drink on the lap of the lady. The flight attendant tried cleaning up the mess. The flight attendant brought a replacement drink he ended up spilling it once again. The lady looked at him with a stupefied expression.

8. What was Bryson’s worst accident on a plane?
During one of the flights, the author was jotting down his thoughts on a notebook. The important thoughts reflected how well he behaves in public places. His recorded thoughts were, “buy socks” , “clutch drinks carefully”. He was sucking the pen thoughtfully. He was oblivious of the fact that the pen was leaking. The leaked ink had left scrub-resistant navy blue on his mouth, gum, chin, tongue and teeth for several days.

9. What did Bryson wish to avoid in his life?
Bryson wished to avoid air travel especially with his family members.

10. What happens when the zip on his carry-on bag gives way?
The author got much confused in that condition. When the zip on his carry-on bag gave way, everything within fell on the ground and scattered all over. Newspaper cuttings, loose papers, tobacco packet, magazines, passport, English money and film spread over a large area.

11. Why is his finger bleeding? What is his wife’s reaction?
His finger gashed while he tried to pull the zip forcefully and it started bleeding. At this his wife looked at him with an expression of wonder and remarked, “I can’t believe you do this for a living”.

12. Why are his teeth and gums navy blue?
Bryson's teeth and gums look navy blue because Bryson Keep sucking at the end of his pen and the pen leaks and give him navy blue teeth and gums while writing down his thoughts in a notebook.

13. Bill Bryson “ached to be suave”. Is he successful in his mission? List his ‘unsuave’ ways.
It is quite clear that Bill Bryson ached to be suave. He is not successful in his mission. He got himself in a car and closed the door without leaving 14 inches of coat outside, wore light-coloured trousers without discovering at the end of the day that he had at various times sat on chewing gum, ice cream, cough syrup and motor oil.

14. Why do you think Bill Bryson’s wife says to the children, “Take the lids off the food for Daddy”?
Bill Bryson’s wife was aware of the travelling habits of her husband. To avoid any awkward situation, she says, “Take the lids off the food for Daddy” as she did not like her husband to take the lid off the food in his particular style.

15. What is the significance of the title?
The title is quite significant. After going through the whole story it becomes quite vivid that Bill Bryson is The Accidental Tourist. There are various such examples which prove the appropriateness of the title. The title itself suggests about the various strange and accidental experiences of the author.