A really easy, entertaining way to waste time at work.

Here's a simple game enthusiastic youngsters can play by themselves or with friends (now, now, no naughty thoughts, children), to while away those long, dreary hours during rainy days or at work when deadlines loom large.

It's about inventing names, and it's easy, fun to get into, and almost impossible to stop playing. Like tetris. Or diablo. All you have to do is invent new, exciting names based on existing ones, and throw a wrench into Maneka Gandhi's evil schemes.

For instance, take a simple name - Pravin Srinivasan.

Now, modify it by changing just one letter, like so :

Pravip Srinivasan .

Or like so :

Pravin Srinidasan.

See? Much hilarity. And very addictive. The trick is subtlety. Prabid Srikivasak, though perhaps funny, is overkill, in my opinion. But whatever makes you happy.

Some further examples :

Anank Ramachandran

Jai Shankap

Majjika Sherawat

N.C.Tijay

Kishoke Manohar

Lots of new names! Whee!

Once you have mastered the beginner's techniques, you can move on to more advanced, and hence more fulfilling forms of gameplay. For instance, mucking about with compound names, such as Saravanakumar, and introducing unusual elements into the mix can be effective. An example :

Saravanakumar - kumar + sudheer = Saravanasudheer. Nice.

More examples of this technique :

Krishnamurthy - murthy + badran = Krishnabadran (You may have heard of Ramabadran, but have you . . .)

Hariprasad - prasad + ji = Hariji (which can also be arrivedat by the simpler method of applying technique 1 to Harini)


Basic units such as Nath, Kanth and Sri, when used smartly, can provide much flexibility and surprisingly delicious results. Such as :

Aravindkanth

Sandeepnath

Sridavid

After just a few days of practice, even the casual player can attempt complex combinations of these techniques that lead to seemingly original end products such as Sankalesh Jimmy, Bragadeesh Sankalpavathy, and Prabhak Muneeswath (all of bosey fame)

In fact, I encourage you to play the game on the comments section of this post, so that I, too, may enjoy the fruits of your endeavours. Go. Play.