'Jigrr!'

I am old enough to be among those were fond of the Russian bear 'Misha' - the mascot/symbol of the 1980 Moscow Olympics - and our own elephant 'Appu' (of the Delhi Asiad, 1982). Indeed, one of the debates of those days was whether Misha or Appu was 'better'.

And there was big-time disappointment when the bald eagle 'Sam' (1984 LA Olympics) was unveiled. Things went downhill thereafter and the mascot of every single Olympics/Asiad that followed has been a total washout (Sam is remembered only in comparison to Misha). From the entire period: 1980-present, only two other mascots have stayed in my memory. 'Raju' of the 1985 (inaugural) National Games and 'Nandu' of the Bangalore-Mysore National Games of around 2000 - Raju was a rather stiff-looking tiger but he was still funny in a vague 'Hobbesian' way. I remember Nandu the bull for the pun in the name (with 'Nandi' of mythology; and the bull is a symbol of both Mysore and Bangalore)and also as a 'namesake!

Yesterday's Pune Marathon featured another memorable mascot - 'Jigrr' the tiger. Appearance-wise he is pretty standard (a jolly tiger dressed as a runner) but his is an absolute winner - a mix of the Hindi/Urdu 'Jigar' (literally, 'liver' but also 'courage') and 'tiger' and of course an emphatic 'grr!'. But he is a sad victim of under-exposure - a google search gave exactly 3 pages and there don't seem to be more than half a dozen hoardings in the entire city declaring "Jigrr welcomes you to the Pune Marathon!".