Rapyuta: The RoboEarth Cloud Engine

Rapyuta is a southern India deity, known as ‘The God of Clouds.’ Always depicted with five ears and three eyes, she is worshiped as an avatar of the monsoon season — when the thick black roiling clouds move over the southern half of the Indian continent bringing life-giving rain for the crops and cattle. When she turns her back on the people, out of anger or spite, the land literally dries up and blows away — as do the people and their crops and beasts. In order to keep her pacified, the southern Indians superstitiously leave offerings of recycled cardboard boxes and Exacto-knives around the base of her many statues. If that doesn’t work, the people have been known to toss a goat in a blanket to make her laugh. That usually works — although the goat doesn’t think it’s so funny by any means.

A slew of Indian technology companies have co-opted her name for their cloud technology companies. This has been an excellent marketing ploy for them, since even Millennials in India still crave her recognition when it comes to the successful outcome of their enterprises. And when these companies hit a rough patch, the entrepreneurs who own them have been known to toss not only goats but even taxi cab drivers up in the air in a blanket to incur her pleasure once again. You know what the difference is between a goat and a taxi driver? One smells worse than he looks, and the other doesn’t.