Will Tenida like politics? The West Bengal chief electoral officer and the district electoral officer of North Calcutta have enthusiastically chosen the irrepressible Teni, created by Narayan Gangopadhyay, as the poll mascot for the city’s northern constituency in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. Tenida, beloved of generations, is indissolubly linked to Pataldanga, where his creator lived in the 1940s. Pataldanga is part of the Jorasanko constituency, where voter turnout has been consistently low for the past few elections which, perhaps, Tenida might change. The campaign will figure his exhortations to Habul, Kyabla and Pyala, each with his own comically represented characteristics, to go out and vote. Tenida may or may not like to be drawn into politics, but what he will love is being the hero. It would be the tallest and, perhaps, the most absurd, of his tall tales. With him would come to life all the identifying features of North Calcutta — its leisurely ‘addas’ on timeless ‘rowaks’, its inimitable food from the rasagolla to the sublime, soul-fulfilling mutton ghugni on sal leaves that must be licked spotless, its young men never in a hurry to grow up in a land where it is always afternoon. The culture and architecture might be changing, but the food still fulfils the soul. The poll officers’ choice is a tribute to Gangopadhyay’s magic pen that made the resurrection of his comic hero meaningful at a crucial juncture.
Tenida might also arouse new interest in the younger generation less interested in Bengali literature and in other linguistic groups in the area. He is a familiar figure to many, but poll mascots to awaken voter awareness have also been created by electoral officers — Hoshiar Singh and Master Siana Singh in Punjab in 2016 and Shera in 2022, next to street plays and songs. In the United States of America, poll mascots from the 19th century were associated with particular candidates and parties, from the axe-wielding rail-splitter for Abraham Lincoln to the raccoon for Henry Clay. Although log cabins and cider barrels did figure, the preferred mascots were birds and animals — donkeys, possums, roosters, frogs, elephants, tigers and, of course, the bald eagle. Created mascots are most popular in sports and in advertisements, though: Appu the dancing elephant for the 1982 Asian Games or the Amul girl being well-known ones.
An 1880 opera series called La Mascotte written by Edmond Audran presented a farm
girl who brought luck to all who employed her. That is supposed to be the origin of the concept of a figure, object or image bringing luck, which now clearly extends beyond that, with Tenida, for instance, inducing people to vote. For whom will he be lucky? He is unique in layered associations, unlike newly created logos. So will the piercing-nosed Tenida reign supreme or will he be followed by, say, Professor Shonku and Newton the cat perhaps, or even the truth-seeker, Byomkesh Bakshi, conversing with Ajit?
