Billions of blue blistering barnacles!

A friend of mine recently asked me when was the last time I felt truly happy ( she was trying to explain to me that after a certain point of time in life happiness becomes "relative"..err..she is profound , ain't she?). So here goes the conversation:

Profound friend: Think of it..when was the last time you felt truly happy ?
Me ( think ..think..think ): Oh..when I went home two weeks back and I bought myself a Tintin comics from the local bookstore....its a sequel to this another comic I was looking for..bla..bla ..bla..
Profound friend (rolls eyes):*Oh my God.. so she is actually nuts!

I cant remember a single moment in the entire chronology of my life when a Tintin comics did not make me truly thrilled. It was my dad who actually introduced me to Tintin , he being a obsessed fan of the series too ( I therfore call it genetic:)).As a child, I used to wait eagerly for my Dad to visit Calcutta since there was a bookstore at Howrah station where he used to get the Tintin books from. The book was expensive and hence supply was rationed. Another source was a local bookstore in my mom's hometown which used to offer cheaper prices. It was part of a program of cultural exchange between Soviet Russia and the West Bengal Government. The collapse of the USSR however , left me with the sole Howrah bookstore option.

I used to pride myself at my carefully built up inventory of Tintin comics and put them to greater use:). One of the boys in the neighbourhood had an amazing toy - a Leo racing circuit with a set of cars which I thought was fantastic ( That I thought he was a dumb,fat brat worth being socked was a different thing). I used to bargain one Tintin comic a week (or till he finished reading it) for using the Leo racing circuit 2-3 hours everyday during the entire period. He was a damn slow reader and the bargain worked beautifully:). I often used to overshoot my daily usage quota and everytime I did so , I would go to his mom to return the toy . Fat brat was obviously not pleased but his mom was a big fan of mine ( I used to play the nice, model kid with elan and it worked;) and would just brush away any objections he had with my blatant violations of the contract. Oh., and by the way , I also made him sign something resembling a contract ( I wrote a long drawn sentence in English which I thought was complicated and hence sounded very legal and made him sign it). Fat brat left the neighbourhood after some time as his dad got transferred . I thoroughly missed exploiting him:).

I still collect Tintin comics now , they are readily available now everywhere.I realise the utility levels have gone down ever since the huge demand supply mismatch ceased to exist. Nevertheless, the gleam in my eyes and the restlessness to finish reading it off has stayed intact ( or so my mother says). And I do realise what it is to be truly happy when I have one in my hand!

* Author's version of unvocalised thoughts
P.S: For other Tintin fans , here is an interesting link http://www.tintinologist.org/guides/lists/curses.html
List of all curses used by Captain Haddock:)