Is TecHalli better title for our Silicon Valley?
Anand Mahindra, Chairman, Mahindra & Mahindra, thinks so. He recently took to Twitter and said he was not thrilled by Bengaluru being called Silicon Valley of India. He argued that it is too derivative and wannabe, and therefore sought new and better naming options. He asked, What do you think would be a good, original title for Indias high-tech capital?  Many suggestions came up in response to his tweet on Caption Competition. Of them, TecHalli made the cut. It was suggested by Srinivas Reddy Patiolla, a delivery manager based in Hyderabad. Mr. Mahindra invited Nandan Nilekani to be a co-judge. Between the two, four entries were short-listed. Finally, TecHalli suggested by @SrinivasPReddy was declared the winner. It won praise for innovatively integrating a native Kannada word (halli meaning village) into the title. Anand had done this online caption competition and he asked me if I wanted to be co-judge. He shortlisted a few options. I selected a few names, and he selected a few too. Finally settled down on TecHalli, said Nandan Nilekani, a technocrat who played a role in bringing the tech capital status to Bengaluru. The other options included IndTechGram, TechPattana and IndTechTown.