As a kid growing up in a middle-class family, I used to impatiently wait for my birthdays. It was a very special day for many reasons, but mainly because my maa would prepare payash, baba brought Elish mach and aunty gifted me another edition of Tintin comics. And, the latter was the dearest to me.
Amongst all the gifts that I have received till so far, Tintin always drew more interest than anything in my life. The comics, its characters, design and layout and the content-everything was so special. It was like I was one of those characters of the creator Herge. Tintin was special to me in many sense maybe because I could easily identify me in him.
Like Tintin' miniature figure, I was of an average height, of feeble strength and good at solving crossword puzzles. But what clicked for both of us were our ability to love mysteries.Tintin was a figure in my bed room; my friends presented me a poster of him, which I believe is still hanging in the wall of my room though these are decorated by the scores of telephone numbers today and my matriculation roll no..
I think I first read Tintin at my aunt' place, and if I am not mistaken it was titled The Shooting Star, and I did not get up from the sofa after reading it. I loved the content especially dialogues of Captain Haddock, friend of Tintin notably 'Billions of Blue Blistering Barnacles' and 'Thundering Typhoons', Snowy', Tintin' dog who could possibly found a piece of bone even on the moon.
The murder mysteries and Tintin adventures were something to read and reread. It was an absolute delight! The manner in which he used to do research, put on his thinking caps, dived into dangers and so on were something to fall in love. Even in my days of childhood, when I used to play chor-police, I was always that clever Tintin.
Time passes and today I have the complete edition of Tintin comics-something that I couldn't possibly purchase when I was a boy. I also read somewhere that ace director, Steven Spielberg is going to come up with a movie shortly on the life of Tintin. It will be worth waiting. And, to conclude with a secret: I love Tintin more than my girlfriend.
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