Tenida Notebook (Small)

Bhajahari Mukhujjee (Bengali: ভজহরি মুখার্জী), commonly known as Tenida (Bengali: টেনিদা) or Teni (see Tenida for da), is a fictional native of Potoldanga in Calcutta, who appears in a number of short stories and larger works of the Bengali author Narayan Gangopadhyay. The leader of a group of four young lads who lived in the neighbourhood of Potoldanga, Tenida was depicted as the local big-mouthed airhead, who, although not blessed with academic capabilities, was admired and respected by the other three for his presence of mind, courage, and honesty as well as his vociferous appetite. Descriptions of Tenida’s nose also make frequent appearances in the text, being described as “a large nose resembling Mount Mainak”. The narrator of the stories is Pyalaram, who seemed to share his leader’s frailty in academic exertions. The other two characters who formed an integral part of the quartet were Habul, the brawny and Kyabla, the erudite among the four.