Google CEO Sundar Pichai open to naming next Android OS after an Indian dessert

Google CEO Sundar Pichai is in his home country India, on his first overseas visit since taking over as the chief of Google Inc. in August. Since India is projected to have more Android users than the US by 2016, Pichai spent his first day emphasising on India's importance for Google. However, today he opened up about his dramatic journey to the top position at the internet giant.

Yesterday, Pichai announced Google's plans and investments in India, most significantly setting up free public Wi-Fi networks at 100 train stations by 2016, starting with Mumbai's Central Station in January. Google will also help rural women from 3,00,000 villages get online in the next three years and set up a new campus in Hyderabad. It also hopes to introduce its balloon-powered Project Loon to bring low-cost internet connectivity to the country.

Today, the 43-year-old spoke candidly about his journey and early years in India with college students at Delhi University. Here are some interesting facts he revealed about himself.

1. He dreamt of being a cricketer when he was young and is a huge fan of legendary Indian cricketer Sunil Gavaskar. Pichai revealed that he still prefers Test cricket to the shorter Twenty20 format. also recalled watching an India-Australia Test match in his home city Chennai in 1986 as a 14-year-old.

2. He's an equally ardent football fan, especially of Barcelona and Lionel Messi. "When I was young in the 1980s, I remember driving my mom crazy because I used to wake up in the middle of the night to watch the Brazilian team," he said.

3. He bought his first mobile phone, a Motorola Star TAC in 1995 and his first smartphone in 2006.

4. There are between 20 to 30 smartphones in his house now.

5. His first software project was a rudimentary version of chess and other games.

6. If he has his way, the next Android version may be named after an Indian dessert. Responding to a question on why no Android OS had been named after an Indian dessert, Pichai said he'd suggest holding an online poll to name the next version of the OS and let Indians vote.

7. The rumours about his phenonemal memory are true. He could remember every single number that he dialled when was in India. "It was because the landline numbers back then were only five or six digits," he said. "But when I moved to the US and got hold of a smartphone."

8. If he hadn't been the Google CEO, he would've still been building software products. "I always loved technology growing up and used to read about what was happening in Silicon Valley and wanted to be part of it," he said.

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