Kebab - Accident

All I wanted to do was get a quick lunch and get back to the mountain of work before me but it was not to be. Usually around 7 of us get out of the office at around 1 or so, go to some food joint on ECR or OMR and have a relaxed lunch of around 2 hours (it takes that much time to go there, get the food, eat it and get back). Dont be shocked, we dont do this every day and not even every Friday. If you see the crazy hours we work, two hours for lunch is less.
Today we had only 5 of the usual 7 around and one guy was treating the rest for the completion of his house/flat or something. So we had to go out for lunch. Took 20 minutes to decide to go to Basera on ECR (20 minutes away from work). We could all pile into one car (one of the seven has a new black Elantra CRDI) . He makes full use of the cars power and features in getting us there in a record 15 minutes (as opposed to the 20 it takes other lesser mortals such as myself in lesser cars like mine) . We drove through the Basera parking lot leaving behind a bewildered guard as we realised the place was full by counting the number of cars in the parking lot. Next option go to Kebab Court. This one had just the right amount of crowd. Valet Parking. I was impressed. Wonder if they do that if you go there on a scooter or an old beat up car? We enter to realise that the entire senior management team was already there stuffing their faces. Old Megaphone was there as well. He was with his boss and so didnt talk as loudly as he usually did. He was stuffing face more quickly than everyone else. Guess thats why he was silent.
There was no room in the inn-terior(bad pun) so we were initially seated outdoors under canopies. No actually made to stand for around 10 minutes while they clean the place - with a hose pipe. Finally we sit on wet chairs. No we got them wiped before. Hordes of flies. A pedestal fan close to me is switched off and people sugegst I move my lazy self and switch it on. I try it and nothing works. I hit another switch a bit further off and still nothing. Our soup shows up. But we wanted the flies gone. The waiters carrying the soup attempts to switch on the fan and guess what - gets electrocuted. No that sounds extreme. He got a shock as the switch board and extension cord they had was soaking wet with water from the hose pipe. 5 minutes earlier I had done the same thing and nothing happenned. Good thing electricity cannot pass through rubber solded shoes. :-).
Two meat eaters and three grass eaters at the Kebab place. Fun. Two of us meat eaters pig out on the non veg platter and enjoy ourselves while casting amused looks at the grass eaters struggling with weird kebabs from different roots shoots and vegetables. Dessert was required as well. I had this weird thing from deep fried bread soaked in sugar syrup and then covered with Malai called Shahi Tukada. Yum. Wanted a nap immediately after. Hoped to get one on the short ride back.
We get back into the car. Our man Shumacher inches out of the parking lot looks to the right for oncoming traffic coming down ECR heading to Thiruvanmiyur as we have to head in that direction and then make a U turn back on ECR towards the boondocks we work in. Shumacher lets a bus and a motorcyclist pass by before stepping on the go-pedal turning left. Boom-Thud -Crash ! Aiyyyyooo ! What happenned ? A goofy old guy - a tea vendor on a TVS-50 with a huge drum of tea ran into the cars front and has now fallen. 5 not so hefty not so young men get out of the car and check if the guy is allright. Tea-seller TVS-50-Elantra molester has a nice big cut on his knee with a flap of skin hanging off and some scratches on his ankle. He is all shook up as Elvis would say and so are we. He starts off on some ramble about how "Kadavul" has "Kaapathified" him and us and by His (Kadavul's) "Punniyam" both he and us are still alive. That is ridiculous. We were in a car with airbags & ABS and he is on a TVS 50. Punniyam my foot. Also while falling what does he do? Make sure the tea doesnt spill. Nice Dan3sh should get tea from this guy. He needs a movie called the Tea-Man or something dedicated to him.

Damage done by TVS 50 ? Major dent in the front fender of a car worth around 11 lakhs. He starts attempting to get money out of us by saying we are all "Mothalalis" and so we should take care of him. But strangely there were many witnesses and all came up to say that TVS-Tea guy was at fault and if anything he should be the one making payments. Schumacher in a moment of great thinking asks for money from the Tea-TVS guy as he felt the cost expected would be around Rs 4500. Can TVS-50 guy repay this damage. No. I was scratching my head as I knew this wouldnt work out. Schumacher gets a made up address from the guy to get in touch with and then we head back to work. Of course this time we reach back in 13 minutes. Scary ride that one as we almost hit another TVS-Champ this time on OMR who suddenly decided to cross the road in front of Infosys building (no I do not work there). This is why I do not like being a passenger when someone else is driving.

I also have to put together a rant about TVS-50 riders. So if any one who reads this rides one , be prepared.

Elliots Beach

Went with Dan3sh, one of the few friends from college I am still in touch with last Sunday evening to Elliots beach. He brought his camera along and took several pictures. A sampling is up on his blog. I like the first 3 pictures but am undecided about the last one. Am posting this in an effort to force him to publish all the other cool ones he took that day as well :-) .

We spent a couple of hours there walking around and him taking pictures. We were hoping to get some better pictures near one end of the beach that was fairly free of people but once we got there we realized it was an open air restroom and so had to beat the retreat. We 'polambified' about our current states in life which is 'single' which is not a good state to be in when you are at the wrong side of your twenties. I forgot to bring up a post by Silverline about the whole Mallu "Pennu Kaanal Ceremony Part I" & "Pennu Kaanal Ceremony Part II" so have added the links here. These posts are must reads for the prospective Mallu bride and groom :-). Most of the details may apply to others in similar ruts in life(Indian with a large family network looking to get you married) with some slight modifications.

We went to the 'Planet Yuk' or was it 'Planet Yum' near the church side of the beach and attempted to get coffees but the Cafe Coffee Day (CCD) seemed to be massively understaffed with one guy preparing orders, collecting money answering questions and also being yelled at by impatient customers. One local dude wanted to first be told what "Indian Style" coffee was available as the whole list of Cafe Lattes, Cappuchinos etc confused him. The CCD employees answer sounded like greek to him and that pissed him off. He then took ages to decide on what to get and then started mumbling about how long it took to ge the coffee. All this while Dan3sh and me were waiting patiently in what seemed to be the queue. Of course no queue is complete with the self centered pompous ass who has to cut through somewhere and then yell out his order, pay for it and get it while everyone else is waiting in queue.

So to the weird looking guy with glasses and wearing a ratty green polo shirt ... I hope I dont run into you again. You got away as I was in a mellow frame of mind. But usually I get all riled up when people behave inconsiderately. I have been trying to eat mental chill pills and go with a nothing affects me attitude. Have succeeded for most part but once in a while while driving it gets very difficult to remain like that when people with IQ's less than my shoe size(they cannot be expected to know things like road rules), show up behind the wheels of vehicles and pester me. Then its back to the maniacal laughter, one hand on wheel, finger out the window and foot on the accelerator ;-). No no ... all that I wrote is fiction ... just kidding about the maniacal laughter part that is.

Six Faces - The Scorpion King

Our watchman Six Faces (a.ka. Arumugam) is a very conscientious and trust-worthy worker, one of the people we depend on to get things done. He also cleans cars every morning as a way to make more money. I wasn't sure about how good he was at car cleaning but decided to give him a try and was amazed by the quality of his work. Turns out he was willing to do it for free I was able to make sure I pay him for his extra effort in addition to the guard duties.
Last Friday night I get back home at a fairly decent hour(like 7.30 PM ...no I do not have a hectic social life) , have dinner, watch a movie till around midnight and go to bed. While watching the movie I noticed that it was raining pretty heavily outside but didn't think too much about it. I go to bed and early next morning while reading the paper I hear Arumugam come to the door with the milk packets and tell my mother that he had to go off duty for a bit last night. Why ? Turns out the rains had caused a BLACK SCORPION to run into his guard shed and sting him ! For those that do not know, a sting from a black scorpion is considered to be FATAL unless treated immediately. Brown is supposed to be pretty bad too but not fatal ( I have another story about my dad being stung by a tiny brown scorpion). What does Arumugam do ? Ask for help from us who are just a couple of feet away from his shed ? No. He ties up his foot with something to prevent the poison from spreading, hops (bad pun I realize but that's all you can do when you are stung) onto his bicycle and pedals all the way from Nungambakkam till Kilpauk (yes .. over the Chetpet bridge!). He manages to get a Doctor to look at him, get two antidote injections one on his foot and another somewhere on his torso, stays there under observation to make sure he doesn't kick the bucket and then, pedals back !
We were shocked that he did all that by himself. After making sure that he was okay, we let him have it for being stupid and not calling us. I or my Father could have taken him by car to the hospital but I guess he didn't want to trouble us.
Am very happy with Arumugams work for us but feel bad that he didn't want to ask for help.

Points to ponder

This is just a post about some things I saw over the past week which made me think for a bit(something I do usually try not to do too much).

Man pulling hand cart loaded with soft drink bottles on Sardar Patel road. Whole long stream of cars stuck behind him. I thought people would honk and get mad. But interestingly enough everyone waited till the man pulled the cart past the signal.

Saw a woman and her child on the footpath on Haddows Road. This was the morning after heavy rains the previous night. They looked like they had been on the road all night. I felt kind of weird driving by in an A/C car, wearing nice clean clothes after a good nights sleep on a comfortable bed with a fan and A/C to keep me cool, heavy dinner the night before and good breakfast in the morning and of course a bath in clean hot water ! I realised I should be thankful for what I have.

Saw a strong young man helping his aged parents cross Chamiers road. I was touched by the marked difference in postures between the old parents and that of the son and the way in which he held their hands while crossing the road. I was also reminded that even though I may be driven mad by my parents at times with their ways, I am with them to help them in their old age and time of need.

Walking around a couple of days ago in desperate need for eye drops, I notice a gypsy woman lying on the road passed out. I was in a quandry as I didnt know what to do but before I could think I saw some folks from some company nearby in proper formal office wear stop by the lady and try to wake her up and revive her. My problem of not knowing how to help was immediately resolved so I continued in search of eye-drops. By the time I returned I saw the woman standing up and picking up her belongings. She had apparently been given food/drink and seemed none the worse for her fall.

Ten Commandments For Traffic

Some Commandments for driving. This will make sense only if you have driven a vehicle in India. Being a passenger doesn't really count. Team-BHP - Ten Commandments For Traffic

More Photos

Finally resized the remaining photos I took a couple of weekends ago at home.

Sushil's right eye

This is Sushil's right eye. I feel I have been neglected for the past couple of years and have been taken for granted. I cannot take this anymore and demand that I make myself be given the respect I am due as the 50% shared working partner for his whole outlook on life. I am henceforth starting a non-cooperation movement and have forced him to wander around OMR this afteroon in search of Ayurvedic Eyedrops called Itone as I made him feel me becoming all dry and rough. He swears by the eyedrops and believes it will keep his eyes from harm. Lets see about that. I have since shut down production of tears and so Sushil will have to depend on either a swift kick to the groin or glycerine to see tears in his right eye. Good luck with the eye drops old man I do hope he will not have to resort to the other option.

Wishlist

Things I would like to get done at some point in the near future in the order which I hope to attack:

1. Get a broadband connection at home ( Have to decide between BSNL/Airtel/Hathaway/Tata Indicom - Currently in Analysis Paralysis mode) . Update: Got the Airtel Broadband.
2. Get a mobile phone for my folks as they are the only people who are still not hooked up. Once they figure the whole mobile thing out together may get another phone so that they have one each.
3. Upgrade the audio system in my car to have a) a CD Changer b) sub-woofer and c) new and improved speakers.
4. Get wider tyres from the 175/R14 to probably a 195/R14 and snazzy alloy wheels as well for the car.
5. Add in some stealth mode defensive modifications to the car to repel High beams and tailgaters. More details to follow in another post.
6. Add some performance modifications on a minum a K&N filter and a free flow exhaust. Supercharger/Turbo charger route still to be decided.
7. Do the research and get a) 42" or larger TV (projection/plasma ...sure why not it is a wish list) b) home theatre audio hookup with atleast a couple of thousand watts :-).
   
   That is all I can think of as my wishlist for now. Just have to save some money up and knock them off the list one at a time. Guess this should keep me busy for a long while. I havnt considered other living expenses and basic essentials like a house etc. but when one has a 42" TV who needs a house.

Jasmine Flower Pictures

Pictures I took a couple of weeks ago in our backyard.

Google Moon - Lunar Landing Sites

I saw this Moon - Lunar Landing Sites earlier in the day but didnt pay much attention to it till a co-worker pointed out that one has to zoom all the way in. I found it really funny. It cleared up the last question I had regarding the Moon.

Sore Eyes

One of the guys at work told us that he has been diagnosed with some rare degenerative retinal problem which could result in his losing his vision within the next four years. There supposedly isnt a cure for it and all that could be done is steroid based treatment to contain the spread of the degeneration. I feel pretty bad for him and what he is goign through as it is a very scary thing to be told that you have a very good chance of going blind within a couple of years.
Cannot imagine being unable to see the faces of my family and friends, reading books, watching my favourite movies and television shows , browsing the net, sketching and photography. I do wish my colleague the best and hope that it was a false alarm he got today and that things will work out for him.

Thinking back to my own experiences with eye problems caused due to chronic dry eyes and having to go to the doctor every couple of months with an eye infection caused due to dust in my eyes. The worst bout required the Doctor to put some weird ultaviolet dye in my eye and then look at it using a special lamp to find the embedded dust particle and remove it with a Needle. Yes a needle. Each time I had the eye infection due to the dust I was in so much pain that it felt like someone had punched me right in the eyeball. Had been fairly free from the symptoms for a couple of years but off and on it flares up and causes discomfort. Like today my eye feels like there is some grit in it but washing it with water didnt do too much. Hope I am not coming down with it again.

Bay One: The Great Indian Middle Class

Very interesting read from a blog on The Great Indian Middle Class

My Weekend

I watched parts of these movies over the weekend:

1. Monty Python and the Quest for the Holy Grail
2. Bhagbhan
3. Charlies Angels Full Throttle
4. Jajantaram Mamantaram
5. When Harry Met Sally
6. Mohabatein
7. Some random Tamil Movie with Prabhudeva and Parthiban in it (I didnt catch the name)

I remembered my time in the USA where I had a Netflix (www.netflix.com) subscription and watched a movie a day. I had started with the 3 at a time plan but was going through the movies so quickly I moved up to the 5 at a time plan. I was also making use of the movies one could rent from the local public libary as well. This kept my movies watching requirements well fed. Am missing the Netflix subscriptions convenience but as a placebo am instead buying VCDs from the Chennai Landmarks(http://www.landmarkonthenet.com/home.html) at fairly regular intervals and have also signed up for a cable subscription with the all the available channels. I seem to prefer the Landmark in the Spencers Mall to the older one near Gemini.

Saturday:
Drove to Tambaram and back twice on Saturday. A total distance of around 100 km. Killed 4 hours on Saturday doing this. I had my Archos Jukebox charged up and with a playlist of a couple of thousand mp3s on shuffle it eased the stress of the trips on Saturday.

Sunday:
Slept for most part of the morning after having skipped going to Church. Woke up to watch a little TV, have lunch and then go back to sleep. Went to Food World to get a couple of snacks and also picked up the latest Outlook Traveller. It had an interesting cover story about exotic train trips in India. Got suckered in to buying it. The article had some steam in the first trip about the Nilagiri Mountain Railway and its steam engine but after that there wasnt much to keep my attention.
Spent the evening moving my desktop computer from thwe living room where it had occupied space to another room. Killed the rest of the evening watching movies on the Comp/Cable and that was it.

OMR Expansion Project

I noticed more buildings that have been pulled down either fully or partially because of the OMR expansion project. I found it pretty funny to see a building that was literally torn in half where the whole front part of the building was gone with the rear left standing. It had weird wall formations where previously other rooms existed and also found a staircase that ended halfway to be hilarious. I remembered “Punnu da Dhaba” further down on ECR which had markings right through the dining area indicating they are which was to be demolished. Most buildings on the stretch had similar markings already or surveyors were in the process of measuring the stipulated distances from the road and making the markings.

The whole project seems to be a good idea but the implementation of the project seems to bother me on a couple of fronts. Firstly it doesn’t seem to be done with too much planning or the planning was done but not fully thought out. I welcome the fencing off of the construction areas on Canal bank road near Madhya Kailash to prevent people from either walking through or driving through a potentially hazardous area. Good think there. It works there as the road there that is still available for motorists is wide enough to allow traffic without any incident. But when the same fencing off is done near NIFT just past TIDEL & ELNET it doesn’t seem like it was done with much thought or planning or they just used a different scale to measure the road space left. The whole stretch there now is a multiple accident waiting to happen (if it has not happened already) as the road is not the width of a regular two lane road but is more like a one and a half lane road. One and three fourth if one is in a generous mood. End result the drive down that stretch is a little scary as oncoming traffic which should be going in the other direction appears to be directly heading for you with millimeters to spare when the do hurtle past.

The other thing that bothers me a lot is the stretch past Sathyabama College/University where one half of the road is just blocked off but not much seems to be done by way of work there. So what are the motorists forced to do? Drive at high speeds on the same half of the roadway! People who drive down the stretch every day realize this is happening and stick to the edges of the road on their respective sides but there are some congenital idiots and morons and of course people driving down the road for the first time who believe in overtaking the motorists going at the sides of the road smack into oncoming traffic. I finish typing this up and walk over to some colleagues sitting with grim faces to hear that a couple of our company employees were injured in an accident on this very stretch last night on their way home. Just at the spot where the road is closed and motorists are made to share the same half of the road, cars etc are forced to almost a full stop and then take a 90 degree right hand turn. At this spot the cab was stuck behind a truck carrying metal rods. The truck driver was not able to make the turn and so started backing up and of course the cabbie drives straight into it. End result, one dislocated/fractured jaw and at least one person with pretty serious head injuries. Full details stil not available yet. It was almost like in a movie say eyewitnesses where the metal bars came all the way into the car. I rest my case as I now have proof that the whole thing wasn’t thought out well. It would have made more sense to have signs posted well ahead warning of the sharp turn required ahead and even post signs advising of a speed reduction required. Also if the motorists whose lane of travel is being usurped were warned up ahead, many surprised and confused motorists would have an idea of what was going on when they notice a whole bunch of drivers coming at them in the wrong side of the road.

Evil Thoughts

While driving today, for some reason I started making a list of all the people I would like to see in trouble. trouble as in an accident. An accident where the occupants walk away without a scratch but with the vehicle they drive totally destroyed (without causing any damage to anyone else of course). I would like to be able to watch the accident, then be able to stop ask them if they are okay and then laugh and tell them I knew this would happen to them and then go on my way. A nice twisted dream for sure.

Here is the list:
1. The the champagne colored scorpio who cut me off multiple times on Canal Bank Road and when I flip him the bird, looks at me incredulously. Saw the vehicle again today, as he was tailgating me on Gandhimandapam road.
2. The Patni Computer Company bus who feels he has to tailgate every vehicle in front of him till they give way on OMR. I wish I could have seen the drivers face when I stepped on the brakes for a second when he got within a foot of my cars rear bumper.
3. The Hindustan College bus with the chariot picture on the back window who for some strange reason thinks he is an autorickshaw and drives only in the left lane.
4. The silver Elantra GT ferrying some Chinese/Japanese children to school whos driver thinks he is Michael Schumacher and always believes in overtaking everything regardless of whether there is space to do so or not.

There. I am done venting for now. Have a nice day you all.

Megaphone

Just wondering about the multitude of other cube dwellers who have to suffer through over hearing the conversations of their cube mates over the partitions/cube walls. (A scene from the movie Office Space runs through my mind but I cannot remember the exact dialogue. Shall add it in here when I do so) Specifically cube mates who believe in speaking as loudly as they can possibly can when talking to visitors in their cubes or when on the phone. Phone conversations. These get to be very interesting as you are forced to concentrate on just the one half of the dialogue and you have to guess the other part. Turns out to be hilarious when you misconstrue what sounded like a very sad breakup (at full volume) and later get the details when another similary affected cube mate tells me that he thought it was more of a financial break up than a personal breakup :-). I just hope I am not such an irritant to my neighbours when I make the occasional personal call to my dear ones and break into Paccha Malayalam.

Paccha Malayalam - Literally Green Malayalam but really means pure Malayalam

Morning Drive !

• I take Nungambakkam High Road till the Gemini fly-over every morning. People making u-turns when they are coming from Gemini fly-over on Nungambakkam High Road before Ispahani Center cause oncoming traffic to stop and let them go first. Sure go ahead ... one has to share the road since there is no signal. While I am sitting patiently waiting for the hundred cars to go slowly turn in front of me ...there comes a complete idiot in a three wheeled auto/load carrier piece of crap out of nowhere and blocks both me and the traffic that is trying to make a u-turn. He is pretty close to my front bumper and tries to turn right but of course there is no room. The Indica in front trying to turn is also stuck, so is the 3 wheeler as another Moron has managed to get himself behind the 3 wheeler. My BP is going up by now ....not even 5 minutes into the one hour commute of the morning.
• Get cut off by a stupid guy in a silver Wagon-R a couple of times ! He cuts me off in the right most lane to then turn left ?????
• Idiot in a truck clips a M-800 in front of me and so have to navigate around the mess to get past the Eldams road Signal !
• A moron in a White Indica stops suddenly in the middle of the road and then slowly turns into a petrol bunk.
• Reach Canal Bank Road with no other inciden. Have my heart in my mouth when multiple vehicles in front of me stop suddenly. I stand on the brakes but the Ikon seems to take its time to stop. I am sure I will hit the auto in front of me but surprisingly I stop with maybe a foot to spare. Almost relax when I hear a tyre squeal and then a Thud and my car vibrate from the impact of a silver Mondeo hitting me right in the backside ! By now the traffic in front has already moved so I manage to pull over to the left side of the road and get out to inspect what I was sure was serious bumper damage. Luckily no visible damage. I finally get to work and inspect the bumper carefully and notice two small spots where the paint has come off. Phew !

Spencers Parking Incident Exit Ramp

Went to Spencers Plaza to get something for my Mother's birthday with my Mother and Sister. Parked in the basement and did some shopping, some ice-cream eating and then returned to the car.
To leave the basement parking in the Spencers plaza one has to follow a maze of Exit signs around the periphery of the basement till a pretty steep ramp up and out of the basement. A guard stands at the foot of the ramp and allows vehicles to enter the ramp only when the vehicles in front have cleared the ramp for obvious reasons.
We were stuck in a long line of cars waiting to get on the ramp. This line of cars was well formed and orderly and in line one behind the other. Suddenly I notice a white Mitsubishi (Hindustan) Lancer with a black spoiler attempt to cut in front of the Silver Hyundai Santro behind me. The Santro didn’t let the guy cut in and so the spoiler dude now keeps moving ahead till he is inches from my left rear door. I have no room to move and can only move forwards. I do so till the Lancer dude is now stuck between my car, a pillar to his left and the Santro.
Since he has no room to go forwards due to a pillar and so tries to squeeze between my car and the pillar. He cannot do much and goes nuts and starts jumping up and down in his car and I can see the car bounce up and down eerily close to my car. Some space opens up and I move ahead. The Santro behind me also moves up and we leave the Lancer behind forced to get in line.

Complaining to the guards did nothing so I just shut up and went home.

Food World Incident

Saturday, Around 11.30 AM in theNelson Manickam Road Food World store.

Am waiting in the regular checkout line with my basket of groceries I had selected. A couple in front of me was arguing with the checkout girl over whether some items they had purchased could be marked as food stuff. This was going on for a couple of minutes.
I noticed during all of this that the express lane was empty. Out of nowhere a guy (short, balding and very out of shape with a huge paunch) wearing a light blue shirt with a Godrej Logo on it and a dark blue pant gets into the checkout lane I am in, between me and the couple in front of me from the wrong side. He has a small packet of mushrooms and begins bugging the checkout person to get his packet checked out immediately.

I was getting bugged by all of this and very politely tell the guy that the express lane is empty and available. This ticks off short bald Godrej guy and he tells me I have no business telling him what to do. I am boiling mad at this point as not only has the guy cut the queue but is now acting like I am the bad guy. I let him have it using the cleanest Tamil I can muster. Didn’t use and bad words from my side whatsoever as all I was trying to do was to point out to Baldy Godrej was that he had no idea regarding how to stand in a queue. Bald dude had nothing to retort and so he chooses a low down mean attack and calls me an Erumai. I was shocked speechless as here was I, in the best shapre of my life slim and trim and taller than the dude and he calls me an Erumai ? By this time baldy had realised I wasnt going to budge and that the entire store was looking at him. What does he do. Goes away from the lane I was in and cuts in to another lane in the same exact way from the wrong side. This time some numbskull lets him get away with it and off he goes out of the store. I see him gegt up on to his powerful motorcycle and pedal start it and buzz away, oh did I say powerful and motorcycle. My mistake. The dude was on a TVS 50, nothing against the vehicle, just that nowadays not many people even ride one. It seems to be the modern replacement of the cycle for the riffraff of the city who cannot get anything costlier.

Erumai - Buffalo :-)