Tintin lovers of Kolkata celebrate his 94th birth anniversary in style

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The comic lovers celebrated by playing a quiz, sharing their first Tintin memories, displayed memorabilia and of course, cut a cake in the name of the young investigative reporter who features in a series of popular Belgian comic books. Owner of the restaurant, Barnali Sensarma Ghosh, narrated how the audience enjoyed playing games and puzzles at the restaurant while waiting for their food. “Tintin is evergreen. At this Tintin-themed restaurant, I keep on seeing people of different age-groups dropping by. Most puzzles are imported directly from Brussels. People in their 20s and 30s or even a five-year-old work on Tintin puzzles. As I grew up, reading Tintin gave me a different perspective, as it deals with many social issues

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Ananya Ray, a final-year MA student from Jadavpur University, who doubled as the quiz mistress (don’t miss her sky-blue sweater), said, “Earlier, I had Tintin’s beige trench coat, pants and boots that I bought online, but I didn’t have any blue sweater. So, this afternoon. I went to South City Mall and got this sweater. I’ve also worn Tintin earrings, which I got from Kolkata-based brand, The Butterfly Tree’’

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The children in the room jumped up to answer the quiz questions, be it guessing the epithet to Bianca Castafiore correctly or naming a few mispronunciations of Haddock’s name throughout the series. (L-R) Sreeja Roy, DLF Public School, New Delhi; Aarushi Saha, Welland Gouldsmith School; Aaranyak Ganguli, South Point School and Srideep Bhadra and Usri Bhadra from DPS, Ruby Park

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Priyodorshi Mustafi, who works in a software company, shared his stories and photographs of Tintin memorabilia and merchandise that have been imported from around the globe. According to him, “I have collected Tintin books in English and Bangla. I also started collecting books related to Tintin and official merchandises not only from India but also got them imported from Europe and Singapore.

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Tintin’s birthday would have been incomplete without singing a song and cutting a cake in his (and of course Snowy’s) name. The special Tintin-themed cake was cut by the young readers while everyone joined in to sing. P.S. If you want Tintin themed cakes for any occasion, you can get in touch with the restaurant

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Anindya Basu, one among the audience, narrated his experience of writing letters to Hergé. He mentioned how he had sent some sketches across to Hergé and how the illustrator in turn had sent him a sketch of Tintin as an acknowledgement

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Saptarshi Bhattacharya, who is a marine engineer by profession, brought along his rare collection of books and coins to the event. He mentioned, “I have been a fan of Tintin since I was 6 or7 years old. The coins are available in Belgium that one can source only through collaboration with the government. In India, the reach of these coins is very less. Today, I have got 10 and 20 Euros but there are some other versions in cents too"

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“The book that I have, has four volumes in total. I hunted it for 22 years before getting my hands on the rare volume. Slowly, I collected them all. The one I’ve brought today is 'The Blue Lotus' and 'Cigars of the Pharaoh'. There is also one about the Incas,’’ Bhattacharya added