The Great Ganesha

So, I just happened to check my SiteMeter, and I noticed that visitor #27 to my site this morning was from none other than the Eastern European nation of the Republic of Moldova. From Chisinau which, as everyone knows, is famous for its Triumphal Arch, amongst other things. Welcome to you, I say.

The Triumphal Arch at the Chisinau Center

Then I got to thinking – wasn’t there a Tintin comic which was based in Moldova? Of course, I googled it, and found nothing that stood out. Well nothing except this French site, which is in -er- French. Once again Google to the rescue, and using the Google Language Tools, I translated the page into English (here). Of course, these things are never perfect and, I quote:

In three albums, ?the sceptre of Ottokar?[King Ottokar's Sceptre (1939)], ?Objective the Moon? [Destination Moon (1953)] and ?the business Sunflower? [L?affaire Tournesol = The Calculus Affair (1956)], the ways of Tintin take it along in an imaginary country, Syldavie, whose geography, history, population with its practices and its manners, are described in detail by the large draughtsman to such a degree that well of tintinologists wondered which real country inspired.

Syldavie it is? Moldavie. [link]

Ah ha! You see, my fine-feathered friend, my geographical sense is so finely tuned that I could sense the thinly veiled attempt by Herg? to disguise Moldavia as Syldavia.

And now you’re saying, if its Moldavia we’re talking about, then isn’t that different from the Republic of Moldova? Well, you’re right about Moldavia – the Principality of Moldavia was a part of Romania. But everything changed in 1991. That’s when a large chunk of Moldavia declared independence and called itself the Republic of Moldova.

So my geographical sense is so fine-tuned that not only could I tell that Syldavia was Moldavia, but more than a half-century after Herg? wrote King Ottokar’s Sceptre (and probably six or seven years after I first read it), I could foretell that Moldova would declare independence from Romania and change its name from Moldavia. That’s the kind of mind you’re dealing with here, people! I’m just saying…

And so it goes, despite its Triumphal Arch, the Republic of Moldova is world-renowned for being the location of three (count ‘em) Tintin adventures.

Incidentally, Syldavia is famous enough to merit its own Wikipedia site (replete with flag (above), a site for its language, and for its capital – Klow). A Spanish rock group – La Union – also wrote a song about it. And if you’re interested in Syldavian grammar (nothing to do with Moldavia, Moldova, Romania or Russia), check out this site.

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