Asia's non-identical twins -> Emerging or Submerging?

[overheard at airport transit lounge]

X: India is a big potential market. We should ramp up operations.

Y: But, the market does not seem to have matured. There is no reason to invest so much ahead of its time. It's time has not come.

X: I agree, it will take a while before we can apply the same "global standards" to India.

Y: And, China has other problems. It is so difficult to conduct business there.

At this time, I had to move away. But the conversation stayed with me.

----------------------------------- 

I am no expert on foreign policy or otherwise, but with the ever growing focus on emerging economies, India and China (or China and India if you like that), makes you sit up and take notice. Economists rave about the staggering growth rates, and marvel at how these economies have seemingly remained insulated from the economic recession. Articles about the success of China/India and the headroom for potential growth, have made it to my daily reading staple. Both economies have taken markedly different approaches (China: planned, govt intervention, export oriented and FDI inviting and India: accidental, still averse to FDI in some sectors, knowledge based and domestic consumption) to economic development. I am not going into that, or which one is better, because enough has already been said about that!

But somehow, I am not completely convinced. I think with these glossy growth campaigns, we sometime fail to see the ugly underbelly of the larger system. And that is needed to make a corrective assessment of the situation on hand.

Do not get me wrong. India and China are growing. And they are very likely to grow in the future. But how much and how fast? And how? are the important questions for me. I think people should take a moment away from this breathless admiration, and look at some of the systemic weaknesses & threats, which could spoil the party. 

"Truth Wins? Hardly"

It seems that the amount of illicit money siphoned off India's shores in the years 2004-08 amounted to 89 billion USD. The last couple of months have seen some staggering claims of corruption. ( 2G Spectrum, CWG mess, Karnataka land de-notifications, Adarsh scam...) Can India afford this?

Often, India's vast English speaking, youth population, is cited as a source of future strength which will decisively tilt the balance in India's favor. I am wondering what kind of future they will have if we do not have a simple notion for accountability and corrective behavior in Indian politics. Will the drain on the resources/infrastructure, lack of ample opportunities finally catch up?  I think people should take a moment to take a look beyond the ITES sectors, and see where the real growth is happening. 

[I know Rama Bijpakur would disagree, but just this once.]

GDP growth, is a much talked about indicator. Given the vast and varied populace of India it is needed that we should take a closer look at the per capita income, which is still currently very low (nearly half of China, which is suprising since they were more or less same as late as 1991, which is also the year of liberalization of Indian economy).  

Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragons?

China took a very different approach to its economic rise, and its easy to see it has problems of a different kind. China is like a black box to the world. Although it has embraced FDI, most of the industry is govt. controlled. You can be a small entrepreneur in China, but if you want to grow big, you need to associate yourself with government funding/intervention, sooner than later. There are no big Chinese companies of repute. It is a export driven economy which relies on worldwide consumption of the goods it produces.

Is the government intervention a good or bad thing? Well, it has been good so far, but massive amount of bad loans with the state owned banks could spoil the Chinese party. Currency problems have derailed a lot of emerging economies in the past. So far China's inconvertible currency has helped it tide over some crises, but as it loosens its grip on the yuan, it could soon all change.  The social inequality as well as burgeoning  medical care/ pension costs are some of the things which keeps Beijing on its toes.

So is the future bleak? No, it is not. GS predicts India will be the third largest economy in the world after US, China by 2030. There is ample headroom for each countries ambitions and approach. There is significant time for them to avoid the potential roadblocks. But is contingent on the growth continuing, and it continuing to be fast enough, so that all the social factors do not negate the progress and bring everything to a stalemate.  

I take comfort in the words of  a noted NCAER economist who has great optimism for India's continued rise. He compares it to,

 the walk of a drunken man. You know that he will get home eventually, but it will be 2 steps forward, two steps sideways, one step backwards.

Rama Bijpakur, made a very important point in her book, "We are like that only!".

Given the demographic and the economic growth characteristics of India and China, 2 very interesting questions come to mind. First, "what exactly do we mean when we say global standards?" and secondly, "Where is the centre of gravity of global standards going to be (in the future)?" 

If  I could intervene in the conversation at the airport, I wish I could tell them that the "global standards" are not going to apply anytime soon to India or China. These countries are going to create a new path, their own path to greater economic prosperity, wading through unique,very real, challenges that each one faces today. 

Regardless, they have definitely arrived at the table!

Joel's in a soup... no make that a Spicy Indian curry!

Joel Stein caused nothing short of an internet tidal wave, when T.I.M.E. ran his article, My own Private India. Rarely have I seen an article cause so much acrimony on the web. Facebookdom, Twitterverse and blogosphere erupted with reactions and counter-reactions. I am pretty sure there is a reaction out there echoing your thoughts on the subject, no matter what they are. Kal penn reacted, & so did Sandip roy as well as the Geat Bong. Personally, I re-read the article a week later yesterday and I did not think much of it.


In my several discussions about it, I liked the reaction that came from madame pixiedust.

The sheer amount of attention that Joel Stein’s article is getting is what really disturbs me, and not really the “humor” that he seemed to be projecting in his piece. It was an ostensibly funny article that makes superficial and unimaginative digs at the brown folks taking over Edison, an apparent nostalgic piece of how his hometown was metamorphosing before his own eyes. However, the irreverence of the article is what exactly it deserves to get.



Unfortunately, a lot of humor involves attacking stereotypes – digs at Americans are a case in point. But I am not sure what constitutes crossing a line? Do you not make any such digs at all? Or you do and then issue a footnote explaining the why, how, when of it? Do you only make racist jokes in an explicitly comedic environment (as our beloved stand-up comedians do) to ensure that they are not taken seriously? Or do you also make a joke about yourself to ensure a safety net – after all he who can laugh at himself can laugh at anything right? It is difficult to ascertain such complexities given jokes are often funny when they are being directed at issues that come with some tension, ideas that some people take just too seriously. To a certain extent I concur, that the person making the joke should be mindful of his audience and the climate before cracking something irreverent about something that could be sensitive. But in general, when you are broadcasting a joke, it is difficult to control this. Really, opening your mouth to spew out humor is always risky. Because you are more often than not targeting a topic that could be very serious to someone, anyone else.


In light of this, we probably need to react contextually. Especially for an article like the one that Stein wrote only because it accomplishes nothing. It is neither nostalgic, nor funny, nor imaginative. Nothing that he says has not been said before. Am I the only one who thinks that this article does not deserve the attention it is getting?

+1.

All I want to say is T.I.M.E. should have probably seen this coming.

Bang Bang Bangalore and some randomness!

It’s been a tiring week. My flat mate is headed to London, courtesy his company for a long duration! We are all happy, wait! That means we have to do the whole house hunting bit all over again! And we did some house hunting.

• Bangalore property rates are completely insulated from subprime crises which is affecting everything world over! Or so it seems with the astronomical amounts some of these guys are quoting.

• You are better off being a vegetarian, cause that increases your chances by 25%

• Being a “hindu” (yes you read that right), adds up for another 5%.

I woke up this Saturday to find some Kannada movie being shot on the roof of my house (not kidding!) Apparently, the producer is childhood chum of my landlord! Let me know if you guys want premiere tickets!

I could not catch the Dramanon play this week (Yeah, work again..!), but I have been hearing good things. And it was yet another whirlwind, humbling week at the stock markets! So for all those who burnt their fingers, hold on for a bit. And for those who think that it’s the right time to enter, do not bottom fish (yet)! If you are a seasoned guy in it for long-term, go for sound fundamentals and business value proposition!


* Yes, by now you must have noticed a new layout. Do not ask! Let me know what you think though(Does it load up right, readable??). I would like to work on the fonts and the Background colors..! Hmm… gah ! I try hard to bring simplicity to my life, but it deserts me! :(

** Update 1: This layout may not work in all display resolutions, Working on a fix. :)

BEST VIEWED IN: 1440 * 990

A Consuming Exxxperience…

Heads up: Once upon a time there were 4 blokes, who moved into a big apartment. They had got themselves a fairly decent place. They had ambitious plans of setting the place the up like a bachelor pad. The 3 B’s of a bachelor pad: Beer, books, bean bags, everything was there. Now came the tough part, managing the household, keeping the fridge stocked!!

Along came the big S (Satya- the most responsible amongst us all) and delivered us from the ignorance and the confusion:

Everybody will take turns and manage the house straight up from the house rent to shopping for the essentials needed in a month.

Short and sweet. It was nothing like a peaceful sermon, but more like martial law that been imposed upon us, and failure to comply and meet the basic service standards would be dealt with harshly.

It’s my month. Again. You can’t escape it. It reminds me of menstrual pain that women experience monthly. It’s the same just that in my case it comes quarterly. It could not be more similar, I am edgy, irritated, sad, depressed, and lose a lot of my blood when it boils in bouts of sheer exasperation.

Enough! This time I was determined to get it right. I had plans in place based upon past experiences.

My determination and my plans seemed a distant thought, when I actually assumed charge. Its funny how things like this throw even the most meticulously drafted plans out of the window.

Well, after having taken care of the basics (the rent, the electricity bill, paying the maid and the cook, newspaper bill) really swiftly, I am left with mammoth task of getting the food supplies. This is also very difficult task, considering the fact that nothing is enough for our fridge. Everything disappears. And off you go to the market again.

I was determined to beat this trend. I decided to shop in BULK with a capital B-U-L-K.

I lured Bhuvan to come along and bail me out. I promised to return the favor. It was his turn next month. He agreed.

Sunday morning. We armed ourselves with all that is needed and we were off for our encounter with the Big B. Now now, before you shoot me down, this is not Amitabh that I am talking about.

Big Bazaar. For all those who have not been to one, they clearly are missing out on what life has to offer. Also for those missed out on the Maha-Kumbh Mela, don’t be disappointed. This is the perfect opportunity to witness something to same effect. Hell, in all probability you might even get lost in the crowd. With the gutsy display of courage, we went in determined to achieve our mission. You can hardly miss the varied assortment of things that are up for sale. You will be surprised with number of different things that are selling under the same roof. Also through the cacophony, that will give any bus station or fish market a run for its money, it’s hard to miss:

“Laadiessss and Gentlemaann, Welcome to Big bazaar, your neighborhood family store for all your needs…get a Free Nike shirt, for every two garments you buy…”

“50 % off the Persian carpets, offer ends today”

“30% off on Videocon Fridge”


I guess when you have competition with the easily accessible and cheap neighborhood kirana shops, the only way to beat them is beating them at their own game. Hawker like marketing of products, products as cheap as you will find anywhere, Mind boggling number of offers to lure you back is clearly working. Everybody is buying. Indians, and I am talking about the masses here, will buy and continue buying if you can convince them that it is the cheapest deal on the block. Add the word “FREE” in there somewhere and its magic for the retailers. People buy more, just to get that extra container that they may or may not need. It’s Free-conomics at play.

When Mister Kishor Biyani, decided he will enter retail business in India ala WallMart, he really went for it. And its arguably one of the best and most profitable business ideas of the latter half of the last decade. Most of the industry big-wigs are lining up the big bucks for investment in the retail sector, touted to be the next big thing after the IT boom. It pays to be the first off the block.

Anyway, pray forgive for getting carried away, like always. We did get our stuff: 10 kg Annapurna atta, 5 kg Sundrop oil, 2 kg Tide, 6 cheese spreads, 4 breads, 12 cartons of juice, 5 types of pulses, 7cartons of Milk, Choclates, Ice Cream, Handwash, plenty of Lays, Popcorn, Pasta, Strawberries and fruits and a whole lot of other stuff I won’t bore you with. But the question is whether this will be enough. Wait and watch this space.

Billing is another story. While we waited, we finished the strawberries; Bhuvan threw a fit, recovered, I caught up with all my friends that I had not spoken to in a while, made new friends with some chicks standing ahead of me, finished reading the Sunday paper. Finally we checked out. I tried not looking at the bill, having exhausted nearly all of the month’s funds.

It was not over, on the way back, tugging around all the stuff we made the last but critical stop. Liquor. This was refreshing. Bhuvan stopped complaining. Fosters, Kingfishers, Wine, Vodka later, we headed home. Now I am completely broke.

It was almost mid afternoon. We came back and crashed. We could not even stay up to even open and shuffle around the contents of the shopping bags.

Sigh!!

Break on through to the Other Side..!

“Why don’t you do it..?” asked my manger, looking straight back at me, as I stood in his cabin, which also served as a makeshift meeting room at times like these.

I stood there, very unsure of what to make of my manager’s question. This was a far cry from my expectations, definitely much more from the expected norms with these scenarios.

It had all started with me posing a few innocent queries to S, the lead recruiter at my company, so as to our companies decision, regarding campus placement this year, from my Alma matter. These questions were fueled by the need to get a couple of people in my junior batch the handful, coveted internships with my firm, which undoubtedly pay well.

To tread with caution or take a swipe at it is the question that keeps dogging me whenever it comes to exploring the ‘uncharted terrain’. See my problem is that with my current work profile of a ‘Techie Geek’, I don’t think, that it is positively co-related to my skill sets (at the risk of sounding pompous). Ha!! Then again my skill sets (because of the lack of them) largely remain unknown. So any kind of work, which helps me break from the monotonous mould of software professional’s life, is highly welcome. This was it. This was a big break.

“What will I do in this entire episode..?” I asked with an innocuous smile plastered on my face. This was absolutely necessary to make sure I had comprehended the situation correctly.

“Well, you go in there, and give the presentation about the company. This should come easy to you, I am assuming. However, I would like the presentation to make some sort of ‘impact’ on the student’s mind. It will be step one to VMware Branding in India, and it depends upon this. At the end of the presentation, you swoop in and tell them about your experiences”

At this point, I just about managed to suppress laughter. This was of critical importance as my manager was clearly not finding it funny. I however, could not come to terms with:
• I will actually end up doing the presentation at my Alma matter, just 4 months after graduating from the same institution.
• How terribly un-interested I used to be when it used to come to the point of attending these presentations is just about anybody’s guess. I almost cringed at the thought of sitting through the placement presentation hearing someone ramble on and on about the(ir) company, And I have to be the speaker at one of these... (Bad Karma!!)

Well, it was not much of a question really; my manager as well as I both knew that this was the deal both of us were looking for. He got a person from the college to parade around as an example the tremendous faith the company put in its employees (which is definitely true... Shocking!!) And I get to do something that I yearned for, break out from the conventional mould of a ‘code-monkey’ life! Of course there was an understanding that I will try to do the job to the level best and responsibly, and it was understood I would be given the freedom to run things in Manipal and have fun while at it. It was a Deal!

Well, now the hard part, (as usual I don’t think things through!!). I would have never believed that coming down for placement is going to be this hard. I mean there a ton of things you have to discuss. The Paper, the sections, the cut-offs, the interview process, the magic figure, the interview questions, the give away goodies, and amongst these and several other things, the presentation. It is not easy, and you have to take my word for it. Well, maybe it got a little difficult for us as this was our first time round, and I was the chosen one!

Well, the presentation actually was a tricky bit; I was going to do the technical bit of the presentation before the whole my-experience-at-the-company shit. I could not just bear myself doing a presentation that bored the students to death. I mean there were certain people in the crowd who were definitely going to scream bloody murder (some actually did). But I could not compromise on the technical nature of the presentation as well as I would have taken the fall. Damn..!! As if explaining what Virtualization was easy..? Sigh!!

Well, we flew down from Bangalore to Mangalore, a day before the actual event, from where on we were whisked away in the awaiting cabs. (At this point I must take a break and mention that
• I had a bird’s eye view of the kingfisher reds and jet airways Blue jays, all the way.
• I was beginning to feel the rush, with all the special treatment. Being part of the recruitment entourage
• I was trying to pull another one of my stunts by not telling any body (my juniors) that I was coming down to Manipal for this.)

We stayed in the best address in town, and were really having a good time. I mean expect for the bit when I led the entire team to the placement department.


I could see the old Mr. Kamath sitting there, with his head buried in a stack of papers, just as always.

“Sir, Emc…” I started.

“They are coming tomorrow, come with your resume” He said without even raising his head to acknowledge my presence.

“But Sir, Emc…..” I tried again.

“9 AM PPT, They are coming tomorrow, 70% cut off for writing the test, no arguments regarding that and we don’t know about the pay package” He raised his head finally, and saw me. It still bobbled the same way.

At this juncture, my manager standing behind me decided to take things in his hands.

“We have come from EMC, for Recruitment”, he said with a lot of emphasis on the words ‘from’ and ‘recruitment’.

That got us all the attention I (we) needed. The placement department co-coordinator was pleasantly surprised to see me as a part of the recruitment team. He showered me with accolades, in front of my team, some deserved, and some totally out of the blue. I just stood there, smiled, took everything he said with a pinch of salt. A true professional.

Well, everything did not turn out as planned. I had a hard time convincing people I was in town as they would just simply refused to believe me over the phone. All the efforts for this to turn out as a surprise were going waste. I always land in these ‘backfired’ situations somehow. Yes, and they pulled a fast on me as well. But I will spare you the details. The day ended with friends at DT, the favorite student watering hole!

D-Day

It could not have started worse. Woke up late, and on doing a run through of the presentation I figured some things were out of place. Damn!! This was last minute panic like never before and Microsoft Windows was driving me crazy. My laptop battery was also acting funny and just refused to work.

This could not be happening. Damn you DT…

Finally I got the presentation going.

Hurried to the seminar hall where the students had already gathered. As I hurried past them, I could gather some of them were really surprised to see me there. I preferred not to look back, not really sure why.

Well, after a couple of anxious moments and trial runs with the hardware, we were ready to start. By now the number of students had increased. I scanned the crowd for familiar faces, seeing them made me happy. Deep down after seeing them I also said that extra bit of prayer hoping things go right. Phew!!

Well, the presentation began by one of the seniors from the Recruitment team introducing the company. Well, even though I was up next and was supposed to do the major part of the presentation I could not help laughing and feel terribly bored at the same time. This was scary. Going by the statistics, I would also be laughed at. People would be falling asleep. This was not really my idea of my first big presentation. And my senior was doing a bad job of it as well. Thanks to him setting the stage for me, pulling it up from here was going to be an uphill task.

“And now Salil will take you through the remainder of the presentation…”

Well it almost caught me unawares as I was deeply immersed in my thoughts about what to do when I took the stage.

The next few seconds were special. My head was buzzing. I stood up and went ahead took the collar mike, fiddled around with it trying to buy time. I learnt that no matter how you prepare for such an event, it actually depends on how confident you are when you utter those first few words….

“Well, I really don’t know what to say”

Eh..? These were not the first few words I had prepared for. I am sure my manager must have been shocked; I did not even look at him.

“Well, it’s a funny feeling, standing up in front of you guys, giving a pre-placement talk.

All this considering the fact that just about 4-6 months back I was amongst the crowd on the other side attending these presentations getting thoroughly bored…”

Some people laughed…That felt nice… I saw a familiar face smile… that was immensely re-assuring. I said still had a mountain to climb thanks to the former speaker.

“Watch it Suri”, I said to myself, “don’t slip into the casual mode.”

“Well, let’s see how many people know about virtualization…Any guesses?”

I said trying to involve the people in the crowd.

I had not planned this also. What was wrong? Why could I just not stick to what I had planned? I should know by experience that people don’t answer such questions. We as students mostly plan to just sit through the presentations and stare like zombies while the presenter rambles on.

I was just going to return to the planned presentation…

“It has something to with multiple operating systems…” said a guy seated in third row. I don’t know his name but I will always be thankful to him. Something I must have said must have been right…

Soon couple of people poured in their guesses, and it all changed. I was ready to go at this…. From this point on I could not stop talking. Being melodramatic, being casual. Being serious. I went on and on.

When I finished, I really don’t know how it went. That is not for me to judge anyways. But as somebody else took the stage, I looked around and I could see that the recruitment team was smiling. That was infinitely reassuring. As I looked into the crowd I could see people smiling.

Now they could have been laughing at me as well, but then some people were definitely not. And I guess that’s an okay performance for the first presentation.

Well, to think that it was all over couldn’t be further from the actuality. I mean as the day progressed the written test, the correction, the cut-offs the interview list… and finally the interviews.

One of the things about an interview is you always tend to hear about these incidents with cocky students pulling some stunts. Well, it was my turn to experience one in person.

“So do you have any questions to ask?”

“Is it a chill company to work for..?”

“Huh..?”

“What time do you expect me to come to work?”

“Huh..? What time do you want to come to work?”

“You see I have a problem getting up early, and I tend to miss my first class…”

Laughter……

“It’s okay we have flexible hours…”

Now taking an interview one on one is not that easy as it looks. It’s really taxing and by the end of it my head was swimming. I could not have distinguished between the C and the sea, and the kernel and the Colonel. This was turning out to be more than I had bargained for.

Gosh! I needed alcohol in my system.

We packed up and left the college premises. And I rushed to the hotel. I changed and dashed to join my friends at DT. It had been a long day. We danced, we drank. Felt like I had never passed out of college. Manipal is like Neverland, and I am sure miss pixie dust will agree. It had definitely been 2 very long memorable days, right down to the very last hour.

We flew out the morning next day; it was back to the office grind but not before I caught up on sleep. I reported 4 in the afternoon (We actually have flexible hours)

It felt nice to be on the other side. Any guesses which side I am talking about?

Code Monkey..!

Code Monkey get up get coffee
Code Monkey go to job
Code Monkey have boring meeting
With boring manager Rob
Rob say Code Monkey very dilligent
But his output stink
His code not ‘functional’ or ‘elegant’
What do Code Monkey think?
Code Monkey think maybe manager want to write god damned login page himself
Code Monkey not say it out loud
Code Monkey not crazy, just proud

Code Monkey like Fritos
Code Monkey like Tab and Mountain Dew
Code Monkey very simple man
With big warm fuzzy secret heart:
Code Monkey like you

Code Monkey hang around at front desk
Tell you sweater look nice
Code Monkey offer buy you soda
Bring you cup, bring you ice
You say no thank you for the soda cause
Soda make you fat
Anyway you busy with the telephone
No time for chat
Code Monkey have long walk back to cubicle he sit down pretend to work
Code Monkey not thinking so straight
Code Monkey not feeling so great

Code Monkey like Fritos
Code Monkey like Tab and Mountain Dew
Code Monkey very simple man
With big warm fuzzy secret heart:
Code Monkey like you
Code Monkey like you a lot

Code Monkey have every reason
To get out this place
Code Monkey just keep on working
See your soft pretty face
Much rather wake up, eat a coffee cake
Take bath, take nap
This job fulfilling in creative way
Such a load of crap
Code Monkey think someday he have everything even pretty girl like you
Code Monkey just waiting for now
Code Monkey say someday, somehow

Code Monkey like Fritos
Code Monkey like Tab and Mountain Dew
Code Monkey very simple man
With big warm fuzzy secret heart:
Code Monkey like you

Well, this is a song by Jonathan Coulton. This was the first to come to my mind when a friend of mine pointed out about the useless existence of a software professional in Bangalore. He raved about other cities, other professions and regurgitated facts, which could only make me believe that we have a doomed existence with exactly nothing to look forward to.

~Get up-Work-Lunch-Work-Work-Dinner-Sleep~

This actually becomes the way of life for most of us. I could not argue with my friend, with the kind of numbers he had on his side. I was forced to think about the hordes of people drifting aimlessly through their life satisfied with their comfy IT job. I felt sad. I felt scared. Some of us have even made peace, with a job they really don't want to do. All this, because without a cushy job, a handsome six-seven figure salary, there is actually no future. I can now probably understand what job-security is all about, and why it was accorded so much importance in my conversations with my Dad.

With 4 years of engineering behind me, I expected life to hold better in store for me. I guess I can't come to terms with the run of the mill stuff that becomes a part of your life. But I believe that the final call on the matter still lies with you. If you can dare to take a stab at the way things work, if you actually want to make a difference. Then there are no chinks in your amour. But then again, it takes more than writing a stinky post from the chair in your cubicle, staring at your computer screen. :)

All around me I can see people getting comfortable with the jobs. When you look at the ATM Slip, with your first salary in the bank. It’s a rush. I guess people really have to experience that. I will not do justice to the emotion(s). The lure of so much money in your A/c after a nearly-always-cash-stricken existence in college is just too strong. The planned CAT/GRE/GMATS... all fade into the background [at this point, I will like to apologize to people, who don't fall under this category]. They are replaced by Take-homes/Appraisals/Blah-Blah.... This change is so subtle that it almost catches you by surprise. Near about almost. It is like 'engineered' precision.

I am surprised that people don't see it coming. I could not. I want to trade my current way of life with my college/school existence. But I don't. And it’s not easy. Actually breaking out of this mould, which just reminds me of a vivid description of quicksand in a marshland, given by my friend, is a whole lot harder than it seems.

Where is the time to enjoy all the small simple things that you used to? To kick back with a book? To party everyday..? It all seems such a distant past.

I guess today I feel like I have just evolved to being a Code Monkey... Sigh!!