Saturday, March 31, 2007

Of strangely-named place and DKPAC nomenclature

Before I begin, let me point out that I hate the title of this post but I couldn't think of anything more succinct and crisp, so just ignore it (and now that I think of it, even succinct and crisp don't convey the meaning perfectly; not the mot juste I was looking for).

Ever noticed how Basant Lok Complex is called Priya?
The shopping arcade in Saket is called just Saket.
DT City Centre is often called Lifestyle.
And, Metropolitan mall is called Metropolitan.

I have a better idea. Saket should be called tetraPVR-McDonalds-Subway-Pizzahut hexasaketarcade. Read on and I'll explain.

It might not seem strange until you examine each of these names carefully. In some cases, the place is named in accordance (I hate this word, too) with the name of a movie theatre, the adjoining colony, the anchor store and, in the final case, the name of the mall itself.

The name is thus meaningless, random and arbitrary (this time, I've found the mot juste). Also, often confusing.

Those of us who have studied chemistry know that this is precisely the problem with common names, and to circumvent it, IUPAC nomenclature is used.

So, I propose DKPAC nomenclature for this very purpose (the name DKPAC, itself, has no meaning).

Rules:
A DKPAC name consists of two parts:
1. the adjunct
2. the root

The root itself must specify the number of shops, the location and the nature of the place. A prefix to the location is used to convey the number of shops and a suffix conveys the nature.
eg. hexasaket conveys that saket has six shops.
Acceptable prefixes include meth, eth, prop, buta, penta, hexa, etc.
Suffixes are as follows:-
1. arcade, if it is an ordinary open-air shopping complex
2. mall (the name is self explanatory)
eg. hexasaketarcade conveys that Saket is an arcade with six shops.
decametropolitanmall conveys that Metropolitan is a mall with 10 shops.

Now we come to the adjunct. The adjunct can have an infinte no. of parts depending on the number of groups to be considered (like substituents in IUPAC nomenclature). Stores/movie theatres/eateries with more than 1,000 footfalls a day make the cut (i.e are considered).
For example, Priya has two adjunct with fall in this category. PVR and McDonalds.
Thus, the adjunct for Priya would be PVR-McDonalds

Naming the adjunct for multiplexes is slightly more complex as the number of halls within must be specified. The same rule also applies for food-courts where the number of distinct eateries must be specified using a prefix such as bi, tri, tetra, and so on.

Thus the adjunct for Metropolitan would be: pentaPVR-tetrafoodcourt-Shopper's Stop

To obtain the complete name, we combine the word root and the adjunct.
The complete name for Metropolitan mall would be:-
pentaPVR-tetrafoodcourt-Shopper's Stop decametropolitanmall

Priya
PVR-McDonalds Octabasantlokarcade
Saket
tetraPVR-McDonalds-Subway-Pizzahut hexasaketarcade

Note: I have randomly assumed values for "the number of shops", as I don't know the exact number. These values, however, suffice for the purpose of illustration.

Google does it again

Come April 1st, 2007, and Google has yet again managed to pull one of the coolest pranks ever. It's called Google Print. Check it out
I almost believed it - and frankly, it would've been an interesting service (also free).
Dhruv
Oh and btw, I'm back.