N for… Neyyappam!

Will the desi neyyappam win the ongoing naming poll for an Android version and go global? 

Malayalis have left no stone unturned in rooting for it.

Malayalis have brushed up their 'collective social media skills' yet again, no, not to insult 

anyone this time, but for a rather 'sweet' cause. 

While other North Indian dishes like Naan and Nankhatai were trending initially, none had the perseverance of Malayalis apparently, and it was the modest little neyyappam which finally found a place among 'nuts' and 'nachos' in the homepage of the site.

And why not neyyappam, ask Malayalis. It is a sweet and it begins with an N, as stipulated by the company, thus winning over its somewhat poorer cousin, the unniyappam. "If Nutella can contest, why not neyyappam? All others sound similar while neyyappam will stand out," says Manoj Thomas, a techie, while Poornima Menon, a homemaker, says, "From a Malayali perspective — there is an instant connect because most of us have some good ol' childhood memories associated with it. Currently not many non-Malayalis know about it. Globally, everyone would be curious about what neyyappam is. Along with it, Kerala would get popular too."

Also, the neyyappam is much-loved by a huge community of tech-savvy people spread across the world! What more could the search engine giant want?

Lohit Chandran, founder of Humans of Kochi has reasons to root for neyyappam and he says, "India comes out on top globally in terms of mobile subscriber growth. Every second, a mobile connection gets activated in India. What could be a better way to acknowledge this than by naming the next Android with an Indian sweet!"

Farzana Jayash, a college student, agrees, "Android versions have always been named after generic western sweets — Cupcake, Donut, Jelly Bean etc — so neyyappam would be a fresh, fun desi alternative."