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                           Adventures of Tintin …My Childhood Fantasy

It was during my childhood that my interest towards reading started, when, in fact for the first time I saw Tintin. Vaguely if I try to recollect, it was during 80′s that I was living in Joda a small town in Orrisa, somewhere during that time my parents had subscribed Bengali magazines, amongst these some children’s magazines were included too. Since I wasn’t able to read Bengali, my mother use to read me one story each day, everyday after I returned home from school… I was a big fan of horror and detective stories… then a particular magazine started coming home, very well known as ‘Anandamala’, even today the magazine is immensely popular within Bengali kids all over the country. Those days the magazine started printing ‘The adventures of Tintin’, which was translated in Bengali and was divided into many episodes. Tintin was an instant hit and became so important in my life that I use to wait desperately for the next episode to arrive on next month. Often during our holidays we use to travel to Kolkata by train and during one such journey (for the first time) I came across with the real Tintin’s comic magazine, tucked against the transparent glass of A.H. Wheeler bookstall on the platform, it gave me wild goose and I wanted to buy a copy no sooner i saw it but my Papa used to put conditions for every small thing I ever wanted for my entertainment, especially during my childhood. Therefore one had to work very hard to fulfill them but in my case I gave up many desires for one simple reason – I don’t want to work hard and easily given up. 

Thanks to Tintin… for the first time in my life I learnt the meaning of determination, conviction and belief and understood the term ‘fight’ to achieve…  Since there was no proper book shops in Joda I had to wait for the next holiday and finally after waiting for few months I got my first copy.

The ‘broken ear’ which had cost my father just rupees twenty four only… henceforth started my journey with Tintin. By the time I was in class 10 I had a shelf that acquired the entire collection of Tintin comics :

 1. Tintin in the Land of the Soviets (19291930)

2. Tintin in the Congo (19301931)

3. Tintin in America (19311932)

4. Cigars of the Pharaoh (19321934)

5. The Blue Lotus (19341935)

6. The Broken Ear (19351937)

7. The Black Island (19371938)

8. King Ottokar’s Sceptre (19381939)

9. The Crab with the Golden Claws (19401941)

10. The Shooting Star (19411942)

11. The Secret of the Unicorn (19421943)

12. Red Rackham’s Treasure (19431944)

13. The Seven Crystal Balls (19431948)

14. Prisoners of the Sun (19461949)

15. Land of Black Gold (19481950)

16. Destination Moon (19501953)

17. Explorers on the Moon (19501954)

18. The Calculus Affair (19541956)

19. The Red Sea Sharks (1958)

20. Tintin in Tibet (1960)

21. The Castafiore Emerald (1963)

22. Flight 714 (1968)

23. Tintin and the Picaros (1976)

When I look back today, it has been a long journey that then Tintin had actually set a foundation in my life and augmented my strength of mind.

 In the film Apocalypto (2006)

Directed by Mel Gibson, there is a particular sequence where the main characters are tied on a wooden platform for an ancient rights of sacrifice by burning them alive - seconds before the performance, solar eclipse occurs and the main protagonist not only saves himself tactfully but also worshipped by his capturers.

The same sequence I have seen in a Hindi potboiler Love Love Love (1989)…

…where the main protagonist is Aamir Khan…

The sequences in the above mentioned films are actually got inspired directly from ‘The Prisoners of the Sun’

                                                                                                                                           …Cheers!