Tintin is the famous comic character created by Herge and loved all over the world. He has many adventures in different parts of the world. The other regular cast of these adventures are Captain Haddock, Professor Calculus, Thompson and Thompson, and of course Snowy the dog.

The Saga Unfolds:The story finds our friends Tintin, Captain Haddock and Snowy on a holiday. Tintin does a lot of mountain climbing and drags a unhappy Snowy along. After all Snowy has no trekking shoes and is worried stiff that his soles will wear out at this rate. In the evenings Haddock and Tintin play chess. Tintin has a weird dream and upsets the chess board and much more, in the placid hotel room. Still, the sun is shining, the food is good and there is peace in the world or so it seems. There has been a plane crash in Nepal and the Captain wants to banish mountains forever from the world.

Tintin gets a letter from his Chinese friend Chang, saying that he is traveling to London and will be glad to meet Tintin after a long time again. To his horror Tintin realizes that his friend boarded the ill fated flight that crashed in Nepal. The rescue missions came back empty handed. Still Tintin is convinced that his friend is alive and is actually calling for help.

So our intrepid hero decides to go in search of his friend Chang. Snowy is of course willing to come along but Captain Haddock is following him only under protest. Our gang flies to Nepal via Patna and New Delhi. When they reach Nepal they can hardly find a Sherpa willing to lead the expedition and everyone agrees that it is a futile except Tintin. But it turns out to be a breathtakingly beautiful adventure and rescue mission through the high mountains of Nepal, monasteries in Tibet and Yeti the abominable snowman.

I loved it: I enjoyed Tintin in Tibet immensely. Tintin is a loveable character with his quick thinking ways and attraction to dangers. In this book he is in a single minded search of his friend and cares not what may come in the way. The loyalty to his friend is remarkable and touching. Snowy is the ever endearing dog ready to lap anything that comes his way, even from captain Haddock’s flask. In this book we also meet Snowy’s alter-ego and he has not one but two tearing him always in different directions.

I simply love the character of Captain Haddock. He is dashing, he is hot tempered, never ventures out without his flask of whiskey and he keeps creating situations that are funny to read but definitely not to be in. In this book he is at his reluctant best, not knowing what to do with a determined Tintin.

The eccentric Professor Calculus features very briefly in this book but he is as hard of hearing as ever. Sadly Thompson and Thompson, the bungling detectives, do not appear in this book.

The book gives a good flavor of the cities of India, Nepal and Tibet. In India, the Captain and Tintin are getting late for the airport in New Delhi but they find the road blocked. A sacred cow is blocking it. You can bet it still actually happening, cows though not blocking the road but ambling through as I drive by. In the story when Captain Haddock tries to go over the cow in his hurry, the cow decides to run with the Captain on his back.

In Nepal Captain Haddock keeps bumping into everything moving and stationary. After that he goes on blistering blundering typhooning everyone. But then, in Nepal he meets his match. He bumps into a porter and starts shouting only to be out-shouted by him and to my immense pleasure in Hindi, my native tongue. There are two full lines of Hindi in this book and it makes the adventure all the more memorable for me. Overall, Tintin in Tibet is a highly enjoyable book.

P.S. I somehow or the other missed Sleeper’s Lean and Mean III, but this review is inspired by it.


Recommended: Yes