Nimboo paani to naankatai: What would be the next Android name?

Born in Madras (now Chennai), Sundar Pichai became the first India-born CEO of Google Incorporated. The 43-year old alumnus of IIT-Kharagpur, during his visit to India in December, hosted an open address to students from all over India, at the Delhi University Campus.

It was only natural that questions came pouring in, when he took to the stage. However, the question that stumped the CEO of the tech conglomerate was if the next Android platform can be named after an Indian dessert.

Google’s Android OS has the longstanding reputation of being named after different sorts of sweets and desserts that run along the alphabetical order. It started with Android 1.5 being named ‘Cupcake’. With more updates, Ice Cream Sandwich, Jellybean, Lollipop and finally, Marshmallow, were released. It was then, that the proclivity of Indians to sweet, gave them away at the address in Delhi.

“When I meet my mom, I will ask for suggestion,”, Pichai said. He added, Google may even put up an online poll to decide the name for the upcoming Android N.

But before Google could, dna came up with its own poll from the comments of the readers on its Facebook page.

While there were suggestions ranging from Gulab Jamun, Payasam, Rasgulla to Nankhatai and Jalebi but Aanand Rangaramanujam’s suggestion ‘Laddu’ clearly stole the show.

However, most of the suggestions did not start with ‘N’.  But some creative readers took up the challenge and went the extra mile.

Mani Shankar Singh gave an alternative if Google insists on ‘N’. he posted, “Jalebi is good and if N is necessary….then leave sweets and name it “Nimbu-Mirchi”. In my opinion, it is the best. Chatpata Android….kyon??”

Jai Mishra also got his creative juices flowing and commented, “Android Samosa… With Hari Chatni update and later with Lal Chatni Update… ”

Some readers like Sourabh Sharma seemed to be under the impression that ‘M’ is the auspicious letter. He suggested, “The name will be on alphabet “M” and it must be a sweet dish as what androids pattern is…..

So the name can be Android makhan or Android malai”.

Hemchander thought the new android should break away from the pattern of naming its versions as sweets, “why not Android PaniPoori” he commented.

 

At such a dire situation, it can only be hoped, that Lakshmi Pichai, the mother of Sundar Pichai, comes up with a fitting suggestion.

Source: google