Why the name "Artha42"?
When we were naming the baby, oops, the company, we came with a list of names. Vagmi came up with some coinage of English words and I googled for Sanskrit words (and their translation) and came up with a list.
Well why Sanskrit? It is said that the difference between other languages (both Indian and foreign) and Sanskrit is that this language was not created by humans, but discovered. It is said in the yogic lore that each sound has a corresponding form and each form has a corresponding sound. So the sound corresponding to the form had been discovered by the yogis and made as a collection to form the Sanskrit language. Usually Sanskrit names also carry a meaning. Infact Samskritam(which is now anglicised to Sanskrit) means "well-created". Vagmi means one who speaks well. Shanthi means peace. Well this sound actually may not correspond to the form ;-)
Vagmi finally agreed to go with a Sanskrit word and liked Artha and Tejas the most. Artha means "meaning". It also means "wealth", but that is not the context we chose it. However we couldn't get artha.com or tejas.com. So we were looking at alternatives. The domain names weren't available for most of them. So then I "deepthought" of some combinations and landed up with 42. (Those who don't understand deepthought or 42, refer "Hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy"). So I came up with 42artha. Vagmi initially liked it, but then said it sounded like 37signals. I didn't know such name combinations really existed and was a little disappointed that there was a pioneer. So I proposed finally "Artha42". Artha42 Private Limited was rejected by the Registrar of Companies saying a company Artha already exists and merely numbers can't differentiate company names. So we gave them options of Artha42 Software, Artha42 Consulting, Artha42 Technology Solutions and finally they approved Artha42 Technology Solutions.
Each time I call a candidate or a vendor, in one breath, I say "I am Shanthi from Artha42 Technology Solutions". The response is "Shanthi from what?" The name has to be spelt and repeated thrice and they "correctly" note it down as "Artha 42 Technologies". I cannot avoid a grin when Vagmi introduces himself "I am Vagmi from Artha42 Technology Solutions" as I could picture the response would be "Hmm?" I am sure they can't figure out both names and they would not have even heard the tail end (Technology Solutions). So, what can they ask? :-)
Ok, I thought I can atleast fix one in three(Vagmi, Artha42, Technology Solutions). Like most developers, I chose the easiest. ;-) I came up with choices like Artha42 Innovations, Artha42 Crafting, Artha42 Labs to express what we do or intend to. We are glad that ROC accepted the first choice itself. Hence, we now are "Artha42 Innovations Private limited" since June 3rd, 2010.