Tintin Forums

If they really visit the Ghiasuddin Tughlaq's Tomb, far south-east of Delhi (co-ord. H10)...

I think this might answer your question. Take a look at the building in the background of the 5th frame, page 7, and compare it to this photo of Tughlakabad Fort (as the tomb is also known). Unfortunately, I don't have an English copy of Tibet to see if it's mentioned by name.

I had wanted to reply to Yamillah's post , but the darn map would not open on my PC. But anyways, Yamillah has done all the hardwork himself.

Yes they do visit Ghiasuddin Tughlaq's Tomb (in the English version atleast) as Harrock has pointed out, though it is not mentioned by name [I am from Delhi so I should know ;-)}.

The Cow scene looks from the crowded, dinghy areas near Red Fort/ Jama Masjid. That place is called Old Delhi or the Walled city, because before the Brits arrived, the town limit was confined within a wall pierced by gates at several places, with one such gate visible in page 7, frame 7.

Thus Tinitin cannot be in an area near the Red Fort in the frame just after that of Tughlaq's tomb, and as I have said before, Tintin is contemplating going back to see Jama Masjid from Tughlaq's Tomb (Jama Masjid is just accross the road from the Red Fort), when it was far more logical to have seen both places which are so near to each other.

Yamillah has of course solved one mystery:that the Tughlaq tomb frame has been 'inserted' only in the English edition . But why has it been inserted in the first place ???

Now for some airport info. As Harrock has correctly researched, The Wellingdon airport is now called Safdarjung airport. It is more of an aerodrome - with a short runway hemmed in by a road over a bridge at one end, that is suitable for small private aircraft to land. The biggest planes arriving were Dakotas, or more recently Dornier Do228 twin-props of a feeder airline called Vayudoot.

As for the main airport, it has two main terminals: one for the International flights, called Indira Gandhi International (IGI) to the South of the runway; the other called Palam which is for domestic flights and it is to the north of the runway. Since there is no subway below the runway, one has to make a very long circuit of about 6 kms around the runway to get from one terminal to the other.

- Pyne

szplug Yamillah has ofcourse solved one mystery that that the Tughlaq tomb frame has been 'inserted' only in the English edition . But why has it been inserted in the first place ???

I don't believe it has been “inserted”, it is in the original French version. I have the facsimile edition which has some small differences (for example, the plane which crashed was originally Indian Airways which after complaints from them Hergé had to change to “Sari Airways”) but the tomb is certainly there in the background.

I'm no expert on Delhi (although I have been there :)) but I can see from the map that the tomb is nearer to the Qutab Minar than the Red Fort. Obviously Tintin and Haddock didn't have a clue where they were going but perhaps they were going through their guide book alphabetically; Qutab Minar, Red Fort, Tughlaq's Tomb...

Harrock n roll
photo of Tughlakabad Fort

Thank you Chris. This photo is very convincing about the strange 'zigzag' visit of Delhi by our heroes, as described by szplug (by the way, I confirm frame 5's drawing is identical in the original version)...

The correct mile count of our heroes' Delhi tour is thus a 3 hours' 40-miles drive to Tughlakabad Fort, including two stops at Qutab Minar + Red Fort, then about 20 incomprehensible miles via the wall gate seen in frame 7, instead of rushing to Willingdon airport, only 6 miles afar...

So there seems to be a 'technical' flaw indeed ...plus an 'emotional' one, imho:
How come Tintin roams around in Delhi that way, when he is so much concerned and worried about Tchang, his 20 years' friend?

Why does he takes the obvious risk to miss the Katmandou plane, hence to endanger Tchang, lost in the Himalayas?

How come Haddock has to remind Tintin they are running short of time (p.7, frame 5)?

How come Tchang unexpectedly addresses Tintin in that album with a polite and distant 'vous' (p.4, frame 4, original version), whereas they readily exchanged an immediate children's reciproqual 'tu' in the 'Blue Lotus' original version?

(see 'Could Herge's characters stand for something else' thread...)

As you may guess, I do smell a 'spatiotemporal fault' in that book, just because there are Indians around, but what about a mysterious 'transmission system' and an 'obscure passage' in that case??

(see 'Tintinverse's spatiotemporal faults: so what?' thread)...

harishankar
What about Cigars of the Pharaoh where Tintin ends up in India in the kingdom of Gaipajama?

Sorry for missing your relevant remark at the time!
How strange to realize that in Cigars already, 'Indian' proximity is associated with some 'speed distortion' (i.e. a 'spatiotemporal fault'...) and ...an 'unseen transmission system':

- Tintin borrows a plane (Puss Moth) to escape the army and his short flight takes him from a nearby Red Sea East bank in Arabia (p.23) to a tropical jungle in India (p.34), at least 2000 miles afar, at a flabbergasting x-fold Mach speed, without even any technical stop, despite this plane's 300 miles' range...

- In the jungle, Tintin very soon starts to cut a funny trumpet out of a trunk in order to communicate with elephants...

NB: there might be a pun in the original version about an elephant's trunk (French 'trompe') and Tintin's funny trumpet (French 'trompette')...