Monday, March 06, 2006

TIN TINAK TIN TANA

Picked up my first Tintin from a friend when I was eight - King Ottokar' s Sceptre. Was surprised to know that my Dad had already read every single book in the series! At that time, one Tintin cost Rs. 90, so no question of asking my folks to buy them for me.
Eventually, lending libraries helped me achieve what invitees to my birthday parties could not.
The legendary tuft of Tintin's hair, the most endearing expressions of Snowy in every panel of each book, Captain Haddock's curse words, the Thom(p)son brothers' slip-ups, the kooky Calculus with his lovable deafness, the cartoonist's pencil twirl to denote a person's (or a vehicle's) movement, Bianca Castafiore's Jewel Song and her mispronouncing Haddock's name, the references in one adventure to other Tintin adventures, recurring villains like Rastapopolous, and bumbling baboons like Jolyon Wagg, the diversity of cultures and lands and themes... Herge simply fits the word "immortal", like a glovvve!

There is no book store in Chennai that does not have a page of their Tintin collection caressed longingly by my fingertips.
Bereft of a buxom salary, I have watched helplessly as the price of the books increased over the years. With each job and a better salary, I felt I was getting closer to my dream. But the money was never enough that it could be spent without guilt.

Came 2006. Came promotion. Between February 14 and March 03, I finally spent the money without guilt! Bought the complete set of 22 books in paperback!!
(Only the hardbacks ->Tintin in the Land of the Soviets, Tintin in Congo, Tintin and Alph Art<- to go..)

The Tintin collection to me is more than just a purchase. It is the orgasming of my childhood aspirations of living a life of comfort.
I have to open the book to read the adventures of a young reporter, his ultra-cute terrier, and his lovable band of friends and enemies. But I just have to look at the book cover to flood my mind with the adventures of a young boy I know very well, right through his struggling days.

I rest in peace.
To be precise: I am a piece of rust.

Example of how people misuse camera mobiles:

Me generally freaking out with my Tintin collection

47 comments:

Usha said...

A worthy investment!
capt Haddock, his swear words and the priceless expression on his face - who can resist these!!

Anonymous said...

Hey, u took be back to my childhood days. These books are like magic, u never grow out of it. I'm waiting for my 8yr old son to get the hang of them so that i can buy all these books(like you) to satisfy my thirst.

Jagan said...

wer did u get the whole collection..i am also interested in getting the full set .

Danesh said...

Blistering barnacles in a sea of thundering typhoons!
Great to know that you bought the entire set, they are definitely worth every rupee. Just last week, I read "Tintin in the Congo" - very enjoyable (as the others).

யாத்ரீகன் said...

>>the money was never enough that it >>could be spent without guilt.

hmmm... chancey illa machi... you told what exactly used to run in my mind whenever i see those collections of TinTin & Calvin.......

tortoise coil swirlling before me.... we used to have a competetion among our mates, who has read the most # of books.. :-)))

njoy machi... do misuse your camera mobile (hey which one you brot ? :-) to put some classy strips from the series you have...

Jo said...

All those books in the pics are TinTins? :-)

monu said...

i liked that line there,
"The Tintin collection to me is more than just a purchase. It is the orgasming of my childhood aspirations of living a life of comfort. "

it struck a chord in me!
:)

the longing for a anything makes it more pricey than its actual worth. And u pu it so beautifully in those lines..

I bought lot of cosmetics with my first salary apart from the money and gifts that i gave to loved ones...

yes, to me, it was not comics..it was always expensive clothes and cosmetics...jus the little girl that i am
:)

and books, i sold all the notes and xeroxes that i took during my collge, to the waste-paper man, and got 200 bucks with which i joined a library when i finished collger, for the first time in my life...yet another long time cherished dream!

Walking into those plush stores that sell everything to pamper your senses, those ever fragrant perfumes to olive oil..it was a dream!
:)

Anonymous said...

tats so sweet anna.. i am very happy for u

Sid said...

brings back memories man....the best series of comics ever!!!!! nice investment!

Anonymous said...

Don't forget to add 'Tintin the complete companion'. and there are 3 hardbacks apart from alpha art i remember. me used to be a tintinologist myself :P

ada-paavi!!!! said...

sooper, even today, after having read tin tin over and over again its good,

u read asterix? and u plannin to buy the entire collection?

Vinesh said...

@Usha: Definitely irresistible :-)

@Prathima: Buy him the whole set and he "has to" get the hang of it :-) Hopefully your kid is not too hung up on Pokemon or those bizarre manga cartoons.

@Jagan: I bought them from a street peddler (surprisingly not second hand, but brand new) with whom I bargained the hell out of. Got each book for Rs. 200. I also wanted to buy the hardbacks from him (after bargaining) but he just vanished one day! If I find him, I'll certainly drop a note for you. Very good deal I got from him!

Vinesh said...

@Danesh: Your comments make me feel very good! :-) Trivia: Did you know that Herge was accused of being racist because of his Tintin and the Congo?

@Senthil Kumar: Haha, tortoise coil! :-D LOL
Btw, that wasn't my phone (I still haven't decided about which one to buy) with which I took the pictures. It was someone else's Nokia 6610i. I wouldn't be putting up pics of Tintin strips, though :-) There is already a pirated (of course) online collection of all the Tintin collection...:-)

@Jo: Huh! Are the pics not too clear buddy?

Vinesh said...

@Monu: Wow monu, your wishes are smaller than mine indeed *tongue-in-cheek* :-P
And I can relate to your feeling of being able to join a library for the first time. I was very happy when I sold my college notes too (for different reasons though, lol)

@Maha: :-*

@Sid: Thanks buddy, I'm very proud of it :-)

Vinesh said...

@Daff: That book costs around Rs. 1050 now! :-( I definitely intend to but it, and also Tintin at Sea, which is priced quite high, too. Soon, I will :-)

You used to be a tintinologist? What happened then?

@Ada-paavi: I love Asterix, and have read many of the books (but not all). I don't think I will buy the series though. Somehow, never liked it as much as Tintin, main reason being the very difficult to read font used in the comics.

Anonymous said...

Wow...its wonderful! Congrats vine! ur dream is fulfilled at last!
The Pics completely emphasize ur thirst for Tin-Tin!!!

Ram C said...

My son loves to read novels and comics.. Tin Tin too is one of his favourites. Whenever, we land in Chennai, we used to go to Landmark to grab a few for him...

Vinesh said...

@Rathi: :-*

@Ram: That's great, Ram. Lucky kid! :-)

Sneha Acharya said...

TINTIN ... I guess its fav of evrone. I joined some 2 years back a local library recently thinking of lending some nice books to develop my intellect(!!!) but ultimately ended up in lending only Tintin books :-) Infact some i have read more than once :-))

Anonymous said...

Kool pics Anna :)

Pandhu said...

Never really concentrated on Tin Tin comics, other than watching them on TV.
I love Asterix, and I have read every single one of them, althought i don't own the collection. I think i will invest in an Asterox collection.

Deepti Ravi said...

Awesome!! Wanna sometime buy the entire collection of Tintin and Calvin&Hobbes too!! Money ..money :( :(

Ramya Shankar said...

I used to read them too, had a few myself, but got misplaced while travelling. I love Snowy!!!

kiraN said...

nice blog buddy.. ;)

still_figuring_out said...

lol. i enjoyed reading tin tin too, though i must admit that i was not an ardent fan.

enjoy reading them!

Jeevan said...

i have heard the name Tintin, never read it. Have a good read vinesh.:) this photos are taken now, or before some years back?

Anonymous said...

As you said, Tintin in the Congo allegedly contains racial undertones, but did u also know that (and I quote) "In 1959, before the books were allowed to be published in America, Hergé consented to redraw panels in The Crab with the Golden Claws, changing a Black deckhand into a man of another, light-skinned origin because "the US censors didn't approve of mixing races in children's books".

samania saman said...

hey.. i have the tintin colection too.. did you get the alph art one as well? my first was the crab with the golden claws! i have two copies of that one :)

Paavai said...

i have never read tin tin - you must be shocked - but your post has piqued my curiosity

Shashi Iyer said...

perhaps it was a seer who prophesized that cam mobiles HAVE to be misused (frequency of misuse, of course, depends on the user) ;). rofl on birthday gifts... bah! i got pencil boxes and huge pencils for 'em (but i stopped my partying in 3rd std... i couldn;t have read tintin anyway!)

Vinesh said...

@Sneha Acharya: Tintin does develop your intellect Sneha, hehe!

@Padma: :-*

@Revatechnic: Oh, I'm sure you'll love the illustrations Reva. It's very real-life as opposed to Asterix, which is great in its own way.

@Deepti: Bide your time, Deepti! I look forward to seeing your pics like mine too, freaking out! :-)

Vinesh said...

@Veda: It is for children of all ages Veda :-) Of course, my child will cherish them too :-)

@Ramya: Oh no, this is worse than losing luggage! :-(

@Kiron: Thanks buddy :-)

@Still Figuring Out: Good to see you here after a long time :-)

@Jeevan: These are brand new pictures Jeevan, taken three days ago :-D

Vinesh said...

@Runa: Hey, that's interesting Runa! I had heard something of that effect too, but never really got into the minutes (plural of minute as in detailed) Now that I have my collection, I can dive into them with the help of all those tintinologist websites! :-D

@Surgeon: Alph-art pending :-)I hear there are three versions of the same book, since Herge died before finishing it.

@Paavai: You must, you must, you must :-)

@Romantic by Twilight: LOL@ your comments.

Matty said...

You bought the entire tin-tin set?
Great dude!!
Definitely your son will proud of you man...

and moreover "Nice blog buddy"!!!

ashok said...

hi vinesh...good to know u r a Tintin fan too...i have almost read 80% of the books...the first book i bought costed just 28 rs. i heard its close to 300 rs now a days...me and my bro used to almost recite everyword from them wen we wer kids...

Amrita said...

yes, i remember, at a point i was really crazy about tin tin. i stll am. just that i do not get time to read them so much. blistering barnacles! the price of these books have really soared up!

Jeevan said...

i cant hope you are in this Photo,u look like 8th std studing boy.:)

Kathy said...

Nice pics. with your huge tin tin books all around you^_^ can you lend me some??hehe..
Hey i love the color here...i'm luvin' the color green and orange yaar( Indian flag)so next time put some green naa^_~ just kiddin'!
Thanx for droppin' by on my blog..

cheers,
-kathy-

Anonymous said...

I am so green with jealousy.
To be precise: Jealousy is green.

Reasons why TinTin series is so adorable

Tin Tin
Snowy
Cap'n Fatstock (one of the names that Bianca Castafiore calls him)
Prof. Calculus
Thomson
Thompson :P
Thomson and Thompson's malapropism - like "I'm rust piece"
strangely...Rastapopoulos
Bianca Castafiore
Abdullah and how he refers to Haddock "Hello, Blistering Barncales"
Spotting Herge in a comic strip

They were all made into Animated series (except Alph Art, Congo and Soviet)For my share of bragging shall I say that I possess all (except "Tibet")in VCD?

Vinesh said...

@Matty: Hey thanks buddy Matty! Hope to see you around often :-)

@Ashok: Great to meet a fellow Tintin fan :-)

@Amrita: The prices have gone up yes, shudder to think what will happen in a few years' time :-(

@Jeevan: Jeevan! Insult! Big insult! :-( hehe, just kidding. Many have told me I look younger than I really am.

I am young at heart that's why, haha!

@Lil Kath: Glad you stopped by, too! :-) Haha, I never thought about the Indian flag colors for my blog, no! :-)

@Krithika: To be precise: Jealousy is green. Hahahahahaha! Great to see someone so involved in Tintin :-) Me also green about your VCD collection, but do you think the videos are as good as reading the books? We guys should form a group just like they have all over the world! :-)

Danesh said...

Its strange to hear that Herge was called a racist, I did not find anything racial in Tintin in the Congo... But I believe that there was a controversy about the hunting of wild animals (elephant, tiger in particular) that was shown in Tintin in the Congo.

Viewer said...

tintin is one my fav comics too

Love the collage u put up ... neat work ,surely seems liek u enjoyed the books completely !

Anonymous said...

No, not quite as exciting as reading, but they have done a decent job, than the animated films of Asterix (which was terrible)

Scoot said...

hee hee you sure did put your mobile to good use.fun photos.

smiley said...

Hi
How about lending the books one at a time so that we can read too? Romba punniyam kidaikum :) have fun

Vinesh said...

@Danesh: Looks like "..Congo" is a must read immediately!! :-)

@Viewer: Forgotten the storylines of all the books... so beginning to read them all over again afresh :-) Just finished two books.. on my third :-)

@Krithika: Hmm.. I have watched a few of them, and thought they were bad too!

Vinesh said...

@Maya Cassis: :-) Hey! Welcome to my blog!

@Smiley: No one likes to take books from me, cos adhukkapprom en pikkal pidungal thaanga mudiyaadhu, haha :-)