Belgium…Brussels it was “to be precise” my destination. When I told my mom that I will be off to Belgium for a week, she had a “Now where in the world is it”..kind of expression and immediately connected it to glass and recounted memories of how her ancestral home had windows made of Belgian glass whereas I mapped it to Georges Remi aka Herge and his inimitable characters, the best amongst them the “Thousands of Blue Blistering barnacles, pithecanthropus, Ectoplasms, Zapotecs…” fella, the most adorable, cutie, cutie, occasionally drunk fox terrier and the lovable Belgian reporter..Ring a bell?? Tintin, Snowy and Captain Haddock of course.
So I stole a couple of hours from my work and rode a 38 kms journey from Brussels Nord station into the heart of the Herge Museum. Being overwhelmed would be an understatement, by what I learned of the man behind the characters and the comic. Born in 1907 in what those days would have been a nondescript village outside Brussels, with humble middle class beginnings, he rose to put a cheer on millions across the world. From his universe of this small place and his little exposure, he dreamed of characters, of situations, of plots to pen down and draw some of the most diverse and unique images that one felt that they were living the stories. I got to know that he created the comic twins Thompson and Thomson based on his own relatives. His father and his brother. The term “To be precise” was used by his uncle and this found way into his books.
Let me not get into the technicalities of his works, but what struck me most was his imagination into the future. Would you believe that “Destination Moon” and “Explorers on the Moon” were published 2 decades before Neil Armstrong stepped on the moon!! You will notice that the space ships built and the equipment donned by Tintin and others were almost close to the actual used in 1969!!! Wow, I thought. Come the 2nd World War, Herge was pushed into exile, fearing an arrest by the Gestapo. He and his small company ran out of ink, but yet, he put the pencil to use and sketched. And this is where his greatness comes to light. While Belgium and the world was reeling under the German onslaught, the concentration camps, he took a different route of providing comic relief by casting Tintin as an explorer rather than an adventurer. He took the readers into China, into Egypt created several other characters diverting thoughts from the tragic events that were being faced. Yes, I learnt several other aspects of this man and his thoughts. The net is a good provider of such information, I am sure.
For me, this was a dream trip. A trip back into my childhood. Images of me all of 10 years, dodging some sparse traffic making my way to the dinghy comic book rental store, on the Station Road, besides the Madras Café in Baroda every Saturday to pick up the next one and the next and the one after that came fore. Those were the days of Tintin, those were the days of the Asterix and Obelix of Commando, those were the days of Hardy Boys (Frank and Joe), and Alfred Hitchcocks’ Three Investigators. I am sure you will connect with evidence posted in the form of pictures taken at the Museum. The broad grin on my face gives it up. The usual reticent me, spent, 10 minutes speaking to the lady at the Museum relic shop, taking her through my journey with Tintin. Oh another diehard fan she thought a bit amused and bewildered. Did I bring something back? Yes, Snowy it was and a couple of folders. I am planning to carry these folders to official meetings J………
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