Abhishek Bhagat is an innovator and entrepreneur from rural Bihar. He invented an Automatic Cooking System “ROBOCOOK” when he was just 15 years old. This made him win an award from the then president Dr APJ Abdul Kalam in 2009. This innovation also entered his name in the Golden Book of World Records for his automatic food-making machine. He currently works as the Chief Technology Officer Desmania Innovation Labs (DIL) where he is innovating new products and systems by integrating design thinking and smart technologies. DIL works extensively with technocrats and grass root innovators to develop life changing products for various markets.
DIL also invented dayLii, an automatic chai machine that allows consumers to regulate the taste by altering its strength, sweetness and quantity of milk as per their preference at the click of a button letting out only compostable waste.This innovation was exhibited at International Railway Equipment Exhibition – IREE 2023 in Delhi.
Anupam is best known as the man behind India’s biggest viral sensation – The Fake IPL Player. He has gone on to start Pitch Invasion as an alternate, interactive online live cricket commentary platform. An entrepreneur for 9 years in areas ranging from sports documentaries, marketing consulting, marketing communications, online social media marketing, and sports media, Anupam is also the author of a best-selling novel, and a general prankster.
Anupam recently launched Scoryboard.com, which is fast becoming the most popular product for live cricket updates on-the-go.
BOOKS: The Gamechangers
WEBSITE: Pitch Invasion, The Fake IPL Player , scoryboard.com
TWITTER: @_fakeiplplayer
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Anusha Yadav is a documentary photographer based in Mumbai. She is also the Founder of Indian Memory Project – an online project that traces a personal history of India through pictures found in family archives. It aims to become India’s first open repository of a visual history made by its own people.
Anusha Yadav graduated in Communication Design from National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad in 1997. Yadav’s interest in photography began while still at design school. Subsequently, she attended University of Brighton to study photography for a semester.
After fifteen years of a successful career in graphic design and advertising, Yadav began working as an independent documentary photographer in 2006 in Mumbai, India. Since then she has photographed several significant events and personalities all over the country.
Yadav has exhibited at the NCPA Gallery in Mumbai, Vadehra Gallery- New Delhi, Tasveer Gallery – Bangalore, Art Motif Gallery – New Delhi and Her series on Portraits of a City – Salzburg, was exhibited as Public Art on the Banks of the River Salzach, Salzburg, Austria and produced as a book in July 2010. The show was redisplayed at Dhoomimal Art Center, New Delhi in March 2011 and is on show at the Austrian Cultural Forum until March 2012. Yadav’s next show will be on display at the UC Davies, UCLA in California, USA in November 2011 and then again at March 2012.
Her photographs have featured in publications like Shots Magazine [UK], Slanted [Germany], Verve, Femina, The Sunday Guardian, Mid Day, Times of India, Asian Photography, Mint Lounge, Hindustan Times and CNNgo.com, Dezineconnect.com, Masala Chai among others.
Yadav is also the Founder of Indian Memory Project – an online and social archive to trace a personal history of India, through pictures and narratives found via family Albums & Archives. The first of its kind, she considers it to be one of the most incredible archives available online. Yadav currently works in India and sometimes the rest of the world.
WEBSITE: The Indian Memory Project, Anusha Yadav Photography
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Arpit Mohan is a startup veteran with a passion for solving complex problems through technology. A BITS-Pilani graduate, he has played a pivotal role in driving multiple tech startups to success.
His journey began as co-founder Gharpay, where he built a real-time, scalable system to transform the way people transact online.
Now, as co-founder and CTO of Appsmith, he leads one of the world’s most popular open-source, low-code platforms, making custom application development faster and easier for businesses everywhere. They have provided resources on performance best practices, guiding users on optimizing applications within the platform’s architecture.
In February 2025, Appsmith launched Appsmith AI, enabling users to connect with major language models like OpenAI and Anthropic.
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Born into a middle class Bengali family, Budhaditya Chattopadhyay was just 15 when he accidentally thought to create an artificial kidney. In 2007, Chattopadhyay’s research on TAK (the artificial kidney) was published in Oxford Journal, and in 2008, was recognized by the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT). Chattopadhyay is now the founder of IDEAL ORGAN and Elixir Excellenza, and co-founder of several multinational ventures with several IPs already in the market.
Chattopadhyay was born in a middle class Bengali family. When he was in high school class IX; a close relation of his passed away accidentally in renal failure, even after having had a renal transplant. Consequentially, Chattopadhyay became interested in the types of treatments available for kidney failure patients.
Chattopadhyay was studying in Ramkrishana Ashram those days. He was a great fan of the Discovery Channel. After some research he soon discovered that renal failure treatments are all the same: Hemodialysis; Peritoneal Dialysis and HLA matched Kidney transplant. So Chattopadhyay decided to devise a treatment which would filter blood like a natural kidney.
Chattopadhyay devised a machine called the Transplantable Artificial Kidney (TAK); which can be implanted in the body. Chattopadhyay devised a prototype, and also conducted several simulations with very satisfactory results. Chattopadhyay was very fortunate to receive World Bank funding through SPFU-NPIU-Karnataka via his college for conducting research and to protect his IPs.
Chattopadhyay published first in the Oxford NDT Journal when he was in the 2nd year of his Medical Electronics Engineering degree. He received funds from his university (VTU) to present the same at the ERA-EDTA Conference Stockholm, Sweden. Chattopadhyay received much recognition and many MNCs came to take the patent applied innovation to the next level. He also got some funding from a VC based in Bangalore; and started a company called Ideal Organ Pvt. Ltd..
Slowly Chattopadhyay realized that a problem existed with Doctor-to-Patient ratios that should be fixed. So he devised a product called Home Dialysis Equipment. This user-friendly product can be monitored by a doctor remotely. And the doctor similarly can monitor 10 patients at a time and, if needed, can even control the parameters. The Home Dialysis Equipment is in the market now.
Chattopadhyay also devised a machine which cleans the membranes and increases the efficiency of membranes (also already in market). His aim was to take OPD and Hehab centers from hospitals to rural kiosks, and so Chattopadhyay created a mobile dialysis van. As per a time schedule the van moves from one village to other one. In this pilot project Dialysis became eco-effective (Rs.400/session in villages in West Bengal) and can reach 8 patients daily on average. It’s also having an ICT enabled mechanism that allows patients to speak with doctors directly and get their consultations without physically meeting them. So using this Chattopadhyay could take little portion of a hospital to the doorstep of patients; instead of forcing a patient to come to a hospital.
Chattopadhyay is now pursuing his MPEFB in IIM Bangalore.
PERSONAL JOURNEY:
I must mention about my presentation at ERA-EDTA Congress Sweden regarding TAK; as prior to that I used to be considered a junk mad fellow. This gave me a very good platform for doing everything. But prior to all these I visited rural India from childhood and learned that no light of healthcare could have touched these areas. I visited several hospitals, even renowned ones like AIIMS-New Delhi. I saw there patients lying on the floor or even on roads at hospital premises and no treatments available for them as they are not hospitalized ass no more beds available. Then I decided to take hospitals to the doorstep of patients.
I also believe education systems must be changed in India. I am not a great meritorious student; but I believe professional courses like Engg., where we study so many subjects without even having any link of understanding and why should we learn the subject; must be changed. It should be something related to the applied field else it becomes like learning history.
Charles Ma was initiated into the sacred world of Bharatanatyam under Guru Smt.Vidya Shimladka. His dance stands out for its distinct individuality, personality and control. Charles is also a contemporary choreographer and teacher. He believes that dance is sacred and the essence of his dance is a deepened spirituality and respect for its tradition and aesthetics.
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Deepak Ravindran is an entrepreneur with a knack for creating viral, user-friendly consumer products that make life easier. He is building KiranaPro, India’s first AI-powered grocery shopping portal that connecvts small, local kirana (grocery) shops to their local customers, promising lightning-fast deliveries and a seamless experience.
But this isn’t his first game-changing venture—Deepak has already co-founded three revolutionary mobile messaging startups over the past decade: Innoz, a wildly successful offline search engine, Quest, a mobile knowledge-sharing platform backed by 500 Startups, and Lookup, redefining business-to-consumer messaging.
Recognized as an Innovator Under 35 by MIT Technology Review and named one of Asia’s 21 emerging leaders under 40 by Asia Society, Deepak continues to push boundaries, shaping the future of AI and consumer tech.
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Dhaval Chadha is reshaping fintech, insurance, and climate innovation to positively impact millions worldwide. As a co-founder of Justos, a Latin American insurtech, he’s making insurance fairer, smarter, and more human-centric. Driven by a belief in transparent and accessible financial systems, Dhaval invests in and advises startups that blend technology and purpose-driven impact.
Previously, he successfully built and scaled ventures at the intersection of technology and social good, such as ClassPass, channeling investment toward sustainable solutions. Dhaval also supports other entrepreneurs driving innovative models in climate-focused finance and equitable insurance practices.
Outside his entrepreneurial ventures, Dhaval actively mentors emerging innovators and dedicates time to coaching startups. He finds creative inspiration in music production, balancing his passion for technology with artistic expression. Dhaval’s holistic approach combines innovation and empathy, driving industries toward a fairer, smarter, and more sustainable future.
Dina Buchbinder Auron is a social entrepreneur reshaping education through playful, experiential learning. As the founder of Education for Sharing (E4S), she pioneers innovative methods that transform passive learning into active global citizenship. E4S engages children, educators, and communities worldwide through its unique play-reflect-act approach, empowering participants to develop empathy, teamwork, and social responsibility while addressing critical environmental and social challenges. Since launching, E4S has reached over 1.5 million beneficiaries across multiple countries, demonstrating measurable impacts on both personal growth and community engagement.
Beyond E4S, Dina is a recognized thought leader and advocate for educational innovation. She is a National Geographic Explorer, Ashoka Fellow, and BMW Responsible Leader, and has held fellowships at MIT and the Schusterman Foundation. A graduate of Harvard Kennedy School, Dina collaborates globally, shaping policy discussions and championing education that inspires changemakers prepared to tackle our world’s most pressing issues.
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Elora Hardy is redefining sustainable architecture through innovative bamboo design. Founder and Creative Director of IBUKU, she blends traditional Balinese craftsmanship with modern techniques to create groundbreaking, eco-friendly structures. Under her leadership, IBUKU has built iconic landmarks such as Green School Bali, Green Village, and distinctive projects for Four Seasons, Como Hotels, and Ritz Carlton, totaling over 200 bamboo buildings worldwide.
Raised in Bali and inspired by its master artisans, Elora’s visionary approach earned her recognition as an Architectural Digest Innovator and a Royal Designer for Industry (Hon RDI). She also co-founded Bamboo U, an educational platform empowering designers and changemakers to harness bamboo’s extraordinary potential. Her influential TED Talk, Magical houses, made of bamboo, “has inspired millions globally. Through her work, Elora champions regenerative architecture, proving that design—rooted in sustainability—can profoundly shape our collective future.
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Kalyan Varma is a wildlife photographer, filmmaker, and explorer dedicated to documenting nature and environmental issues His work brings the wonders of the wild to a global audience. For over a decade, Kalyan has collaborated on landmark wildlife series for BBC and Nat Geo, capturing nature’s most breathtaking moments. He co-founded India Nature Watch, Asia’s largest wildlife photography community, and Nature InFocus, the continent’s biggest nature photography festival.
Kalyan also won the 67th National Film Award for his documentary Wild Karnataka in 2021. Beyond the lens, he’s passionate about sharing knowledge, conducting workshops, and inspiring the next generation of wildlife storytellers.
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Krushnaa Patil is a mountaineer, entrepreneur, and artist known for her trailblazing achievements in adventure sports. She made history as the youngest Indian woman to summit Mount Everest at the age of 19.
Krushnaa is also the first Indian woman to conquer iconic peaks such as Mount Elbrus in Europe, Mount Kilimanjaro in Africa, Mount Aconcagua in South America. Demonstrating her adventurous spirit beyond mountaineering, she participated in a remarkable 3,000 km cycling rally from Kolkata to Kanyakumari with WANI (Women Adventure Network of India).
Her diverse experiences extend to scuba diving, rafting, and parasailing. Krushnaa has also participated in extreme adventure events like the Extreme Trails Nissan X-Trail Driving Rally for National Geographic and Wipeout India.
Recognized for her achievements, Krushnaa has been honoured with prestigious awards including the Rotary International Award, the Today’s Youth Asia Award, and the Rajiv Gandhi Award.
She is the director of Yellow Frog Adventures, a company committed to the sustainable development of mountain communities and promoting mountaineering. Additionally, she channels her creative energy as the owner and chef at Books and Bricks Café in Kashmir, a warm and inviting space that blends food, books, and community engagement.
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Madhumita Halder, a Computer Science engineer from IIT Bombay, is redefining education by making learning innovative and fun for children. Her journey began as a teacher at an alternative school, where she explored science through games, play, and hands-on activities with students. This experience, combined with her technical expertise, inspired her to design personalized learning frameworks that cater to individual learning styles.
Madhumita has developed learner-centric curricula across various subjects and age groups. She is the founder of MadRat Games, the creators of Aksharit — the world’s first Indian language word game.
Madhumita also founded SLAM Labs, a company dedicated to creating interactive and impactful learning experiences for children. SLAM Labs specializes in educational tools and games that integrate Science, Language, Arts, and Math, fostering creativity, curiosity, and critical thinking.
Madhumita developed SuperSuit, a futuristic wearable gaming platform that merges physical activity with digital play. For this innovation, she was recognized by Fortune India as one of the ’40 Under 40′ Business Leaders of 2016.
Madhumita also runs a YouTube channel called Apni Teacher, where she is on a mission to eliminate math anxiety from children.
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Mohamed Ali Niang is the founding CEO of Malo Traders, a social venture based in Mali. Mohamed’s mission is to combat extreme poverty and malnutrition by amplifying the income of smallholder rice farmers while simultaneously providing fortified rice to malnourished consumers at an affordable price. Malo Trader’s first facility will produce enough fortified rice in its fifth year to meet the annual needs of 280,000 Malians.
Niang (Chief Executive Officer) graduated from Temple University August 2011 with a Bachelors in International Business/Entrepreneurship and minors in Economics. He holds a Master’s degree with specialization in International Management and Finance from le Centre d’Etude Franco-Americain de Management. He was part of the winning team at the 2010 Center for International Business and Education Research (CIBER) International Case Competition and also received the 2010 Sol Tutelman Memorial Prize from Temple University, an award given to the student achieving the highest standards in the field of entrepreneurship. He was also honored with the Harry Halloran Social Entrepreneurship Award and the prestigious Temple’s Diamond Award, the most outstanding award a student can receive. Niang is an Unreasonable Institute and Echoing Green Fellow.
Niang interned at a diverse organizations dedicated to social change and poverty alleviation including the UN Food and Agriculture Organization in Niger, the Women’s Opportunity Resource Center in Philadelphia, and the Program for Appropriate Technology in Health (PATH). During these internships, Niang developed valuable experiences and insights into the agriculture and nutritional sector, microfinance, and project management. He worked as an Undergraduate Consultant for the Sustainability in Risk Management Team at Fox-SBM Enterprise Management Consulting. Niang is especially proud of his role in designing and implementing a comprehensive marketing plan (TV, radio, written press) for selling 11,000 clean cooking stoves in 2008 while working for Tissina Ltd., a medium size Malian company specialized in green products.
He is currently serving as founding CEO of Malo Traders a social venture whose mission is to combat extreme poverty and malnutrition by 1) paying rice farmers a living price, 2) minimizing post-harvest losses by at least 10% with high-efficiency processing equipment, 3) fortifying rice with vital minerals and vitamins using GMO-free and culturally appropriate technology, 4) creating the first brand of Gambiaka (a Malian rice variety) that adheres to international export quality standards, while 5) creating a “closed loop” or “cradle-to-cradle” system by producing biochar for organic fertilization, rice bran oil for cooking, and animal feed. Malo Traders was awarded the Judges’ Choice Prize at the University of Washington’s 2010 Global Social Entrepreneurship Competition and the 2010 Innovative Idea Competition at Temple University. In April 2011, Malo Traders was awarded first prize in the Social Venture category at the Pace University Pitch Contest. We concluded the month of May by winning second prize at Temple University’s Be Your Own Boss Bowl and the Dell Social Innovation Competition bringing in $35,000 in cash.
PERSONAL JOURNEY
A few months after the 2008 hunger riots, I accompanied a delegation of West African dignitaries to Mali’s biggest rice growing region. The region had abundant land and water resources as well as committed farmers. But, I saw hardworking rice farmers go hungry as a result of inadequate technological support and commercialization opportunities. This experience compelled me to move beyond just empathy and volunteerism and towards building a social venture that will make hungry farmers’ an oxymoron and ensure they are capable of producing a product that will allow them to make decent livings and contribute wealth and health of the nation.
WEBSITE: Malo Traders
VIDEOS: Unreasonable Institute, Unreasonable TV: Episode 6
Nayana Somaratna is a doctor, programmer and entrepreneur. While still a medical student, he founded his own outsourcing company, completed another degree in IT, and taught students how to program. His vision is to make medical education entertaining, inexpensive and accessible to doctors and medical students via the medium of mobile phones.
Somaratna wrote his first line of code when he was just seven. A self-taught programmer, he went on to clinch a Gold Medal at the International Olympiad in Informatics in 2001. Whilst a student himself, he spent his weekends teaching school children how to program. Later on, he taught quite a few medical students as well. He also founded an outsourcing firm specializing in mobile and web applications, which helped fund his way through college.
After obtaining degrees in Medicine and in Information Technology, Somaratna left his medical practice to follow his passion of becoming a full time entrepreneur. His startup Medical Joyworks aims to make medical education entertaining, inexpensive and accessible to doctors, medical students and other healthcare professionals, via the medium of mobile phones.
Their first application “Prognosis: Your Diagnosis” uses a cartoon style narrative and gaming techniques to teach clinical medicine in a simple and entertaining manner. Prognosis has been the #1 free medical iPhone app in the United States and currently is a top 50 app in both the iPhone and Android application stores, with over half a million users worldwide as of late 2011.
PERSONAL JOURNEY
My journey through university showed me that both medicine and IT are taught in a similar manner – via lectures, tutorials and practicals. However, there are enough and more external resources to make learning IT fun – competitions, puzzles and interactive animations, just to name a few. On the other hand, most external resources on medicine were in a similar format to internal material and about as dull. Once I graduated, I wanted to change this for the better.
WEBSITE: Medical Joyworks, Prognosis: Your Diagnosis
Nida Mahmood is a self taught artist and trained designer from the National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT). Indian Kitsch being her muse and forte, Nida’s collections at WIFW met with rave reviews, critical appreciation and commercial success. Hailed as the Queen of Indian Kitsch by the media, she travels extensively for fashion and art shows, talks, seminars and has an incorrigible wanderlust for everything in Technicolor.
Nikhilesh Das was awarded the fifth National Grassroots Innovation Award by the President of India, Smt Pratibha Patil, for his innovative research on controlling oil pollution in water. A student of Cotton College (BSc in Physics), Das aims to pursue a career in nuclear physics and bring the spirit of scientific innovation to students across India.
Das has been keenly interested in science since childhood. When he was just in class six he made an herbal repellant for cockroaches, which was quite effective. Throughout his school years he represented his school in a number of science exhibitions, debate, quiz and speech competitions, and won many prizes at the state level. Das invented an innovative solution to control oil pollution using waste products. Through experimentation, Das discovered that human hair, bird feathers, and sawdust are all 95% effective at removing oil from water in clinical trials.
Das submitted his proposal to the NIF (National Innovation Foundation), and in 2009 they selected his idea for the national level Science Exhibition. They also recommended it for the highly prestigious National Students Award. Das won the competition, and President Smt. Pratibha Devi Singh Patil of India presented him with the award. In 2011, NIF and Das applied to the Government of India for a patent on his inventions.
Das is currently pursuing a degree physics from Cotton College Guwahati.
PERSONAL JOURNEY
When I traveled to New Delhi to receive the National Student’s Award from the President of India, I came in touch with some of the most fascinating people I have met in my life–the other innovators who were awarded by NIF for their outstanding works on Science and Technology. I was moved by seeing those people, the majority of whom were college and school dropouts yet had made some of the most fascinating things I’ve ever seen.
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Reena Esmail is an Indian-American composer celebrated for her unique fusion of Hindustani and Western classical music. Esmail holds degrees from The Juilliard School and Yale School of Music and was a Fulbright Scholar in India, where she studied Hindustani classical music.
Her life and work have been featured in PBS Great Performances’ Now Hear This (Season 3) and Frame of Mind, a podcast by the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Her music has been featured on multiple Grammy-nominated albums, including The Singing Guitar (Conspirare), BRUITS (Imani Winds), and Healing Modes (Brooklyn Rider). Many of her choral works are published by Oxford University Press. Her work has been recognized with awards and fellowships from United States Artists, the S&R Foundation, the American Academy of Arts and Letters, and the Kennedy Center. Her doctoral thesis, Finding Common Ground: Uniting Practices in Hindustani and Western Art Music, explores the challenges and techniques of cross-cultural collaboration. Her notable work like This Love Between Us: Prayers for Unity and Teen Murti highlight her ability to merge musical traditions while addressing themes of unity and spirituality.
Currently, Esmail serves as the Swan Family Artist in Residence (2020-2025) at the Los Angeles Master Chorale. She also serves as Artistic Director of Shastra, a non-profit dedicated to bridging Indian and Western musical traditions, further solidifying her role as a trailblazer in the world of cross-cultural composition.
Selene Biffi is an Italian social entrepreneur, educator, and humanitarian committed to empowering marginalized communities through education, storytelling, and technology.
In 2005, long before online learning became the norm, she launched a free education platform that reached thousands of young people across 130 countries. Her innovative approach has included video games that introduce children to cutting-edge science, algorithms that simplify complex news, and chatbots designed to combat hate speech.
She founded Plain Ink and Youth Action for Change, to use storytelling and digital learning to drive social change. Her humanitarian work spans the globe, from collaborating with the United Nations, World Bank, and Council of Europe to establishing a storytelling school in Afghanistan, preserving cultural heritage while creating economic opportunities. She was also recognized as a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum and an Ashoka Fellow.
In 2021, Biffi founded She Works for Peace (SWFP), a non-profit dedicated to supporting women’s micro-entrepreneurship in challenging environments like Afghanistan, further cementing her legacy as a champion for global change.
Suman Sridhar is a powerhouse performer, seamlessly blending jazz, hip-hop, Bollywood, Indian classical, and opera into a genre-defying sonic experience. A multifaceted artist—singer, musician, and actor, Suman holds a degree in Music, Visual Art, and Gender Studies from Rutgers University, USA.
She is celebrated for chart-topping Bollywood hits like Fifi (Bombay Velvet), Muskaane Jhooti Hain (Talaash), and Khoya Khoya Chand (Shaitan). Beyond film, her vocal artistry has elevated award-winning TVC jingles, further solidifying her place in India’s contemporary music scene.
Suman has a music act called The Black Mamba which features a world, urban contemporary sound. Suman’s mesmerizing stage presence has graced some of the world’s most prestigious platforms, including dOCUMENTA (13) (Germany), Southbank Centre (UK), BBC World Service (UK), NH7 Weekender (India), Coke Studio (MTV India), Jazzmandu (Nepal), The Great Escape Festival (UK), and the Royal Opera House (India). In March 2025, Suman Sridhar released a music video for her track “Plastic,” directed by renowned Bengali filmmaker Qaushiq Mukherjee. The video intersperses news footage of India’s rivers and green spaces affected by plastic pollution with performance art by Akkudev (Akanksha Dev). The song highlights the environmental crisis in urban areas like Mumbai.
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