Memoirs of
an Indian Social Work Educator
After two digressions I return to my
educational background. After I passed out of Karnatak College –Karnataka
University, 1st Batch with B.A. Special (i.e. Honors), I began to think what
next? My father wanted me to be a lawyer - not work as an employee -to be on my
own. There was no money left to pursue further P.G. or law course. My close friend
at Karnatak College – senior by two years, had done LL.B at Belgaum. He told me
that I could find some kind of temporary job, earn (working during the day) and
study for LL.B at attending evening classes. I accepted his advice, went to
Belgaum (Thalakwadi – a suburb) joined Raja Lachmen Gouda Law College (R.L.L.C)
got admitted in the hostel, began searching for a job – for about a month,
without success. Decided to discontinue and had a letter from Syndicate Bank,
Dharwad that I could get some loan by mortgaging shares of Maharashtra Apex
Bank – purchased by my father. I got the loan – enough for a year of P.G. study
at Bombay. I wrote to the Registrar
Bombay University, seeking admission for M.A. in Economics, got a reply that
admission closed for that year (1951-52). I could try next year. I was in touch
with my close friend R.K. Hegde, (he later became Chief Minister of Karnataka
(1983-88), Dy. Chairman planning commission and commerce minister in Atal
Behari Vajpayee’s NDA government) who was then at Lucknow University, doing his
M.A. Political Science 2nd year. He wrote, I could join Lucknow University even
by late July, there were well known professors – he named some. I took a snap
decision, went to Lucknow – never had travelled outside Karnataka, joined
Lucknow University, Department of Economics and Sociology. Lucknow University
had a composite P.G. Programme of Economics + Sociology. Common papers,
Compulsory in the 1st year and specialization into one of the two streams - A
(Economics) and B (sociology). I opted for B, and then changed to A much against
the wish of the then Head of Department, Prof. D.P. Mukherjee- well
known as one of the founders of Sociology in India. The other being Ghurye at
Bombay University, M.S Gore's teacher. D.P as he was popularly known, was a
double M. A (Economics and History) Gold medalist of Calcutta University. He was a great and versatile scholar/
teacher, Novelist in Bengali, art critic, musicologist (Hindustani Thumri in
particular). He had revamped the curriculum when he took over as HOD, which was
outdated during his predecessor’s tenure – well known Radha Kamal Mukherjee.
D. P
had introduced a
new paper on Economics of Planning- note this, 1st in
India. It was a compulsory 2nd year
paper. There was an "Introduction to Sociology'' paper in the 1st year -
which he taught. Also the paper on "Planning". As part of stream A (Economics) there was an
optional paper either Economic History or Social Anthropology. As I had
done Economic History
as part of
my B.A at Dharwar,
I chose Social Anthropology- taught by another well-known scholar,
H.O.D, Anthropology- Dr. (Prof)
D. N. Majumdar. Another teacher his former student
and then a junior colleague - Mr. (Dr) Mathur also shared the course teaching.
I passed M.A. (Lucknow) in 1953 with II Class - just made it. I came home -
began to look for a job which I needed badly.
I had to take help by way of interest free loan to supplement my funds,
to take care of my II year at Lucknow.
I used to come to Sirsi Tehsil town once
every week from Banavasi my village to read the advertisement in Times of India
(T.O.I). I came across one
advertisement for a post of T. B. Social Worker by the Govt. of Bombay. Being
eligible, I applied for it;
was called for interview,
was finally selected; received an
appointment letter which said that I would be sent to T.I.S.S for two year
study, stipend paid and only after that I would be appointed. Stipend took care
of approximately 50 percent of my monthly expenditure at T.I.S.S staying in
the hostel. Further debt from C. C. Mulgund - my well-wisher from Banawasi. I
later learnt that the two persons who interviewed me were Dr. B. B. Dixit,
Surgeon-General, (Dr. B.B.D Dixit later became the first Director of all India
Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi) Govt of Bombay (now the designation
would be Director Medical Services) and Dr. G. R. Banerjee of T.I.S.S. Thus I
landed accidentally at T.I.S.S and professional social Work both of which I had
not heard. At T.I.S.S it was compulsory for me that I should take Medical and
psychiatric Social Work (M.P.S.W) as my II year specialization. Dr. Banerjee
was my field work supervisor during the I term), 1st year Field work at family
Welfare Agency founded by her and Dr. Mhasker (read MSG's autobiography). II term was "Group Work" Placement
at BDD Chowls, Worli- just organizing and playing with children not group work
really. Mrs. Alvares - T.I.S.S Alumini was Field work supervisor. Prof. N. F. Kaikobad was in-charge of Group Work
placement and also the Worli centre run by T.I.S.S (I was at T.I.S.S from 1953
July to 1955 May. I missed narrowly K.D.Gangrade as my Group Work
Supervisor. He left T.I.S.S in January
1954 to join Delhi School of Social Work (D.S.S.W). I joined (D.S.S.W in July 1955). I should
mention only a few things about my study at T.I.S.S. Other students used to say
"poor Pathak" referring to the course I would be doing during II year
(M.P.S.W) under Dr. Banerjee. She had
rather a 'negative" image among students especially boy students of other
specializations. Dr. G R Banerjee was considered to
be very strict
as a supervisor-
very punctual herself demanding students also to be
punctual. Part of the image was that "she was insensitive to the point of
being cruel". There were stories doing the round. As was my nature, I
decided to keep an open mind, do my best, "judge" her by my
experience. That proved very helpful. I was punctual- I always am, did my work
conscientiously, honestly shared the difficulties in field work. I became her "favorite" student. In
those years there were hardly any books to· read on Social Work. We had to depend on class notes of teachers
who taught. As part of M.P.S.W. GRB
taught "Advanced case work and Counselling' during the II year. All other
students were women I, the only boy. T.I.S.S was then not a university.
Internal assessment & grades were by course teachers / field work
supervisors. GRB had followed a practice of giving farewell to her students
after the II year exam but before the results –at a good restaurant in Bombay.
When our group’s farewell party was over GRB managed to get me away from other
students, in whispers almost, said “Mr. Pathak you have done well in Advanced
Case Work. Where did you find all that you wrote about Authority Factors in
Case Work?” I replied Eliott Studt in “Federal Probation”, U.S. Journal which I
had read in the library. She hadn't
read it! She questioned me because, I had written what she had not taught yet
relevant and more than what she had said-. I say this for two reasons, one the
way I used to study. More than that the humility of GRB, implicitly admitting I
had read what she hadn't read. Great quality in a teacher! Very few teachers
have the courage and integrity to admit that the student is ahead of –them in
reading.
Here I quote another incident from
a colleague at D.S.S.W. Two bright Students - Dr. Vinay Bhaskar and Mr.
Datta (son of S.C. Datta referred to by MSG), knowing that the teacher only
lecturers from notes taken years ago- did not do any fresh reading, played this
prank. ·"Sir you said this but so and so in their book have said
differently''. Fictitious authors!-. The teacher said “I have read that book
but ...". The two had a hearty laugh sharing this with friends and one of
them spoke to a teacher who was a relation and this student was my student
close to me and ·she told me. She retired as H.O.D. Contrast this teacher with GRB. Though no student tried this on me “I would
have said - I am not aware of that book. Give me the details, I will read
it".
Briefly about Dr. B. H. Mehta. He
was a Ph.D in Sociology from Bombay University (also Dr. M. V. Moorthy)- at a
time sociology was a new discipline in India; He had joined in the first few
years of the establishment of T. I.S.S, was teaching C.O and Child welfare- his
own ideas- not to be found in books- if there were books. He had the habit of
referring to himself as "we". Interesting and to some, even inspiring
teacher. The problem was when exam came students were worried- if class notes
did not make sense. I don't know how word got around that I have
"good" notes of Dr. Mehta. My notes were borrowed, copies were made
after getting them typed and circulated remember- 'Xerox' was not there. Dr.
Mehta was also intensely disliked by some of his students. I was the 'in
between' category. There is an amusing end to this - a few who read my notes,
got good grades, but I did not! I got C in C. 0 and in Child welfare. To end
this part. After B. H. Mehta passed
away- funds were collected by the T.I.S.S staff/ Alumni and B. H. Mehta
Memorial Prize for the best research based article in I. J.S.W. When it
was to be implemented- 1st award, I was a member of the Award choosing
committee, and Dr. Tellis Nayak of (Roshni Nilaya) Mangalore, Dr. N. A. Gokarn
of T. I. S. S were the other members.
When I wrote to the Director, T.I.S.S- Dr. A. Desai, her reply- "The
committee members may frame the rules and guidelines! It fell to my lot to draft the rules, after
circulation to other members through T.I.S.S, and finally approved. Consider the problem, 3 of us located at
different places - I in Delhi, Dr. Gokarn at Bombay and Dr. Tellis Nayak at
Mangalore. Suppose, each one of us
chose- 3 different authors. I had to bear in mind all these potential
difficulties and frame, workable rules. Note also that- most of the articles -
nearly 75 percent are from Non- Social Work authors - from other Social sciences.
A few years later, I was again chosen a member of B.H.Mehta Research Award. In
both the years, I am happy to say that the names chosen by me were the final
awardees. This meant that at least one other member, if not two had made the
same choice. We did not communicate between ourselves. We sent directly 3 names
by rank to T.I.S.S and based on guidelines, T.I.S.S finalized the choice.
I end this part
of my academic life- connected with T.I.S.S with a non- academic part of my
life at T.I.S.S. T.I.S.S used to have election to the students union every term
and I was elected a member of Students Union in the first year- I term. I was
made in charge of picnic! There was a dominant group with some political
association which won the elections each term. I was with this group to begin
with. Later I quietly prepared to break away and organize a "challenge"
to this group. It was a very difficult task. I had to unite a coalition of 3
different sub-groups- those openly opposed
to the Ruling group-
Songadwala was the leader of
the opposite group. A section of the ruling group was not quite
happy with the "ruling'' group. But
chose to align with them as they felt that the opposition was playing in the
hands of the Director- Prof. A R Wadia- a person with long administrative
experience. He was Director of
Education in Mysore State was Pro Vice Chancellor of Baroda University. I was part of the section that was not happy
with the ruling group, but aligned with them. Then there were the neutral/
indifferent students. P. L. Govil was the original candidate as President by
Songadwala group. But the dissident
group insisted that they would break away from the ruling group, if only I were
the candidate for President, Students Union.
I was not keen. But I was determined to break the stranglehold of the
ruling group. Songadwal realized that we needed that "dissident"
group support to win. He called me for a "confidential" chat in a
restaurant (EROS) away from T.I.S.S He changed his opinion of me - that I would
not be controlled by the 'Ruling' group and decided to support me as the
candidate for President of student’s Union. As a compromise my classmate and
friend P.L.Govil was accepted as Vice-Presidential candidate. We won
with a big margin to the shock of the Ruling group- who were very sure that
their candidate Miss. Asha Mehta of my class would win hands down. But the
aftermath of this was not happy. The T.I.S.S students became divided into two
hostile groups. I decided once again to change this bitter, antagonist two
groups - into a broadly cordial students of T.I.S.S. Once again I had to work
hard- now with my group to get them to agree to the candidature of Asha Mehta
in the 3rd term (2nd Year) without contest. I finally succeeded. Alas, Asha
Mehta did not play her role- as unanimously elected president of student union.
To cut this part short- though it
is worth telling
in some detail,
I once again swung
into action and succeeded in
overthrowing Asha Mehta through a No-
Confidence motion. Late J.J. Panakal
used to remark to others later that I was a "hero" who became a
"statesman", changed the T.I.S.S, student’s union election in the
years to come in a significant way. I am happy to accept this description of
myself.
I may conclude by saying that my political background in my
college days (I was closely associated with the communist party of India,
before it split and when it was banned in 1948 by government of India, the milit
phase. B T Ranadive as the new secretary of C.P.I. I had also participated at
the age of 12 years in the Quit India Movement) and my roles at T.I.S.S in
1953-55 students union elections all these experiences were very useful when I
had to deal with the second major strike at D.S.S.W in 1971. I succeeded - with the help from student (Dr.
Vinay Bhaskar and Dr. Aruna Khasgiwala played a major role) with me and quiet
support of Principal S N Ranade, in breaking the strike and also breaking two
more subsequent strikes. I think D.S.S.W
is free from this virus- for many years to come.
Now I turn to my evolution as a “good’,
“scholarly”, “influential” teacher at D.S.S.W.
I shall try to be very brief. Earlier I had
written, on my own volition,
of my experience as a young teacher
teaching Social Case work
and Medical Social Work, originally given to Prof. R. R. Singh, arising
out of his questions which I had answered
briefly through an Inland letter. They were thrown way without reading
by the D.S.S.W teacher who was my student!!.
These were mistaken, as my "case work class notes" by the
teacher whom they given by R R Singh) - they were not. I did not have much by
way of class notes for any course. I
taught, in view of my very good memory, without class notes, what I had
were jottings- like "teaching points" with occasional quotes
necessary to aid my memory. In my first
2 or 3 years- I was "teacher is
a student 24
hours ahead of
the class" definition. What I read, what notes I had
from T.I.S.S student days, standing in front of the podium- straight talk,
ending with "any questions".
There were very few, if asked I answered them frankly, with confidence.
I remember, as part of four lectures
of introduction to the Field
on Medical Social
Work to the I
year students- entire class in the II term of my first year of teaching i.e.
Jan March 1956. This question was
asked by a student by the name Ahuja, I think innocently- not mischievously.
"Sir, what is your salary “? I could have answered in such a way- that it
would have been a 'snub' or a “rebuke". I chose to reply candidly-
"Rs. 200+ Rs. 50 D.A- total Rs. 250.00. Any further questions? Many
students were aghast. They thought that
the Question should not have been asked:- perhaps some did speak
disapprovingly to Ahuja. They were also very surprised- stunned, that
I chose to answer, with a straight face, unemotionally - no anger, no
embarrassment. After I took over
teaching of Social Case Work in July 1956 from Miss V. Sharma, who had taught the course since 1953
and had resigned to go to the University of California to do her Ph.D. Students
asked questions to test me- if I could be needled, if I could be made to lose
my temper. (I learnt these later from some of my students). When they failed I
rose in their esteem- an unflappable, well-read, confident teacher. From then
onwards I had no difficulty in handling any group of students, in any class I
taught.
Miss. Sharma used to lose her temper when
questions were asked - could not handle them. Knowing this, some students
deliberately asked questions to provoke her. I remember that Miss. V.Sharma
used to say she had a headache either before going to the full class for
teaching or after coming out.
There was
paucity of available Social Work Literature even in U.S.A, much less in India
around 1953 or so. Even T.I.S.S library
was ill-equipped, D.S.S.W more so. E.g. for social case work there was only
text- Gordon Hamilton’s – Theory
and Practice of Social Case Work; Annette
Garett's “Principles of Interviewing”. Only in 1957-58, Helen H.
Perlman's pathbreaking Social Case work
- A problem solving process - Person, Place and Process in Social Work, came
out. Initially I relied on Hamilton (1958
I was in U.S.A) for about two academic years.
From 1959-60 I followed Perlman. 1st book from a British author (Noel
Timms) came in late 1960's or early 1970's.
I used it in Combination with Perlman. For Medical Social Work, there
was a book recommended by G.R.B- Harriett Bartlett's book. Later, on the suggestion of GRB, with great
difficulty, I managed to get two volumes of compiled articles (published by
Chicago University) of GRB's teacher Dora Goldstine - at Chicago University. I
always ordered/ purchased copies for my personal "library" out of my
small salary of Rs. 250/-I had to save some money to pay off my debt.
More
than the paucity of literature, the irrelevance of these to Indian
conditions troubled me a great deal. Gradually, I succeeded in weeding out the
"irrelevant”, sifting and selecting the relevant and "blending"
the relevant to the Indian "knowledge"- drawn from my own
observation, experience as a field work supervisor, selected Indian Social
science literature. My social science background helped me and my students through their social work
field reports though problematic due to
translating quickly spoken Hindi/ Hindustani /Punjabi/ Urdu/marwadi etc., into
English- students varied in their academic background and of languages. Translation is not easy to scholars of book-
translation. What to speak of D. S.S.W students- not the "elite"s of
students coming out of the Universities- with under-graduate (degrees
compounded by the problem of “Medium of Instructions" - Hindi, Marathi
etc). With all these problems by and
large my social work
students were honest, did not
write "fictional" reports,
struggled to convey what
they heard, saw and tried to understand- the problems of
people in distress. The harsh Reality of
Indian Society, as seen in Delhi's underbelly- lower stratum living in slums;
visiting public hospitals, when ill. But with all the difficulties/ defeats,
VERY RICH TREASURE OF RAW Knowledge, Unknown to them- my social work students
were generating a treasure of knowledge that I liberally soaked in, polished
them- selecting the useful, ignoring trivia/insignificant details. In other
words, I realized the need of developing- Indian Social Work Literature for use
in India. I can say I did play my small
part, already begun by B. H. Mehta, G. R. Banerjee, Dr. M. V. Moorthy- and later
M S Gore. MSG was of little help to me
at the time I was a young teacher. BHM,
MVM provided the "perspective" limited though it was, GRB pioneered
the practice oriented knowledge- by way of establishing the field centers/ agencies, and directly practicing
by taking a
few cases to be
handled by her
at the Family Welfare Agency, B.D.D. Chawls, Delisle
Road and Child Guidance Clinic, Bai Jorbai Wadia Hospital, Parel. I may
mention, in a small way, followed GRB. Initiated efforts to establish Child
Guidance Centre, at D.S.S.W nurtured it for some years (excellent work by Aruna
Jain/ now Khasgiwala, Dean, Faculty of Social work, M.S. University, Baroda 2nd
Tenure). Handled, initially, a few cases at the Silver Jubilee (now R.B) T.B.
Hospital- OPD and ward, rather successfully- thus demonstrating what Medical
Social work is
to the Superintendent Dr. Krishna
and OPD Dr.
Maqbool. Revamped field work placements at the S.J.T.B Hospital
from Recreational center based
approach- to patients’ problem- oriented approach. A very difficult case handled by me
referred directly by Dr. Krishna was a Gandhian T. B. Patient who had begun to
fast unto death protesting against corrupt and insensitive administration. No
case work theory helped me to tackle this. I relied on my "instincts"
based on my knowledge- including some
knowledge of Gandhian
technique of fast. When the patient broke his fast, it was
as though I had done a miracle! My stock
went up among the top administration (Dr.
Krishna) and some his colleagues. Similarly Dr. Maqbool at the OPD- I
used to sit in the OPD, on the OPD/field work day in the morning. Dr. Maqbool
was surprised, when he saw I
succeeded, when he
had failed to
persuade a woman T.B.
Patient - poor family- not to discontinue the treatment. He asked me
what I did in amazement. He was a good doctor. Years later when Mrs. V Bala
was working as T.B. Social worker, told me that one day an old patient came to
enquire about me (without my name) and he gave sufficient details to her she could
make out it was 'I' and I could make out it
was the "fasting Gandhian patient". Two more interventions- I
did not handle the full cases, one at Irwin Hospital (now LNJP) case handled by
Girija Venkatraman mental illness case, the other at Lady Hardinge Medical
College Hospital, handled by Ahluwalia. Both the student said- “no progress”,
even when they followed my suggestions. I
asked them to
make appointments on a
field work day with prior intimation to me and I would talk to the
patients. I did so, succeeded in making
the patients take the steps “movement in the case" as it was called. It
should be remembered, my own proficiency to communicate in Hindi- "Khadi
Boli" as the local spoken language was called was very limited. Two years
at Lucknow for my M.A, two years at Bombay for my field work plus one or two
years at Delhi. One more detail about my
"direct" practice, GRB, Hon. Director Child G. Clinic (run by T.I.S.S.)
asked me to work as a part time Psychiatric Social Worker on non-field work days,
when Mr. M. G. Shah P.S.W resigned, until the post could be filled by regular
recruitment. So for 3 months, I was a paid part time Psychiatric Social Worker
at C.G.C. It conveys what GRB thought of me, as a student-practitioner, my
potentials.
One
more experience during the emergency- post emergency of 1975- 77 at Trilokpuri.
The D.S.S.W field staff was divided on the suitability of placing students in
Trilokpuri- resettled (tent living) former slum dwellers. We faced a serious problem (I was then Director
Field Work) of slums having gone from Delhi/ N.
Delhi. Where to send students for Group Work/ C.O placements? I argued
“where the people have gone, we go. They need us, even more than before.” I
shall skip the details- I managed to persuade the colleagues - a variety of
major problems- for students (and people, transport). Lack of basic amenities,
water supply, roads, schools for children. I had personally visited several
times Trilokpuri (later Jahangir Puri was also chosen SN Ranade as supervisor),
I met the Officers-in-charge of those new colonies- tried to find out the
blocks- that we should choose for field work of students and selected
them. I believed in leading from the
front as they say in the army and cricket, demonstrating as a field work
supervisor and Director of Field Work. One
such block was
the South Indian
Tamilian weavers originally from
Kollegal in Mysore district- later migrating to Tamil Nadu- near Dindigul-
finally to Delhi. They spoke a language that sound like Tamil, but as my student discovered- by
the name of Thirunarayan, it was a
mixture of Kannada + Tamil- more of Kannada.
Thirunarayan told me "Sir I cannot communicate with them. They speak some kind of Kannada". Once
again I asked Thirunarayan to schedule
a meeting of
the people on a
Sunday- both of us would go. We did- I spoke to them. Their demands- insistent- we need a Murugan Temple, a Tamil
school, and cremation ground for our use! The officials could not grasp these
as their basic needs- important demands- they were dubbed as "extremely
un-cooperative". I told these
people- I agree with your demands. I
would/my students would do their best to get you these facilities! It was my
firm grounding in South Indian culture that
helped me to say
what I said and we strove to keep
our promises. Both of us, Thirunarayan
and I together worked, even going on non-field work days or late evenings, meeting
people who were in distress,
meeting officials at several levels
(Mrs. V.Bala and her husband
V. Sriram were very helpful-
through their Andhra Political contacts- Mr.
Ram Rao who was Chairman Khadi and Village Industries Board. Post emergency era Janata government
phase-one such intervention was to meet Laila Fernandez (later
estranged), wife of
George Fernandes- then
Minister of Industries at the
Government of India with Morarji Desai
as Prime Minister. To use political/ high level official influence the
officials who were "exploiting" the ignorant ex-slum dwellers- now at
Trilokpuri. All these, could be called C.O. Indian way.
I
may mention for 5 years or more I was Supervisor, of
students placed in Jhandewalon slum (now invisible), as part of their
group work/ C.O 1st year placements. A "case work specialist" supervising
Group work/ C.O placements!! I had to
educate myself about Group Work, and C.O - the right way the Indian
approach. I did- Mr. M.C. Nanavatty,
Head of Field work Department and Group Work/ C.O teacher was appreciative of
my work.
Similarly,
I had to learn a good deal about Research Methods- sampling, a variety of tests
significance (chi. Square etc.)-the hard way, so that I could guide the then
required, research dissertations of M.A (Social Work) D.S.S.W students.
Afterword
I
had not thought of writing my autobiography. I was surprised when two prominent
persons from the field of performing arts suggested that I should write it. One
of them repeatedly urged me to write. Perhaps influenced by this, on an impulse
I started writing not my autography but my Memories as a teacher at DSSW Delhi
University, in December 2010. I wrote on these three days 13, 15 and 16 Dec)
and then stopped writing, realizing the practical problem of converting my hand
written drafts into computer prints and revising the drafts etc. It is exactly
three years since I wrote (13th Dec 2013, as I write this). Having pondered
over what to do. with what I wrote, including destroying it, finally I managed
to salvage a part approximately 50% into computer print of the first draft,
without any major improvements retaining my abbreviations e.g. S.W.K for social
work, shd for should etc, Thanks to Malathi,
my close relative who has helped me immensely by handling my drafts of
the last chapter of the book- Social Policy, Social Development and Social
Welfare: I cannot make any more demands on her time. No more writing! Year-end
resolution.
Autographies
are a good source of historical accounts, written carefully with minimum of
subjectivity. M. N. Srinivas wrote an autobiographical essay which was
published into International social Science Journal. I. P. Desai made autobiographical
references in his essay on Craft of Sociology. Among
economists V.K.R. V Rao’s incomplete autobiography was edited and published
posthumously by S.L. Rao. P.N. Dhar who was professor at Delhi School of
Economics and last served as assistant secretary general of U.N. Development
programmes (also secretary to the P.M. Indira Gandhi) published his
autobiography. Among professional secretaries only M.S. Gore has published his
autobiography “Memories that Linger” (about 400 pages) in which there are
chapters dealing with his student days at T.I.S.S. and his years as Principal
D.S.S.W and Director T.I.S.S. and also his role as a co-founder of Indian
Conference of social work, now Indian council of social Welfare. (B. Chatterjee
was the other founder - major role).
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