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13 Steps

13 Steps to Bloody Good Luck

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The journey of life isn’t exactly easy… Some people make it through hard work and talent. Some fall by the wayside. And some people are just plain lucky. They are blessed with Bloody Good Luck!

But is it possible to attract good luck? Can we train ourselves to be lucky? Apparently, it seems that Dame Luck isn’t that fickle. She is well within our reach.

In his first non-fiction foray, bestselling author Ashwin Sanghi explores that critical, much-longed-for element called luck. Through entertaining and informative anecdotes,
narrations of personal experiences and vignettes of homespun wisdom, Ashwin gives us a whole new insight into how people can work towards being lucky.

It seems that luck isn’t entirely the twist of fate that it is made out to be!

160 pages, Paperback

First published November 7, 2014

229 people are currently reading
1209 people want to read

About the author

Ashwin Sanghi

28 books2,737 followers
Ashwin Sanghi—entrepreneur by day, novelist by night—has all the usual qualifications of an Indian businessman. Schooling at the Cathedral & John Connon School, a B.A. (Economics) from St. Xavier’s College, and an M.B.A. (Finance) from the Yale School of Management. Besides being a businessman, Ashwin manages a parallel career as writer of fiction. Ashwin’s first novel, ‘The Rozabal Line’ was originally self-published in 2007 under his anagram-pseudonym—Shawn Haigins. The book was subsequently published by Westland in 2008 and 2010 in India under his own name and went on to become a national bestseller. ‘Chanakya’s Chant’ is his second novel in the historical-fiction genre. The book has remained on AC Nielsen’s India Bookscan Top-10 for all of 2011. It won the ‘2010 Crossword-Vodafone Popular Choice Award’ in September 2011. UTV has purchased the movie rights to the book and a film based upon the story is expected soon. Dr. Shashi Tharoor released the novel in Mumbai calling it an “enthralling, delightfully-interesting and gripping read with historical research that is impressive.” The Hindustan Times has called it “a cracker of a page-turner.” Ashwin is currently working on his third novel, as yet untitled, that explores business strategies in ancient India. Ashwin is also working towards a Ph.D. in Creative Writing from Bangor University in Wales. Ashwin lives in Mumbai with his wife, Anushika, and his eight-year old son, Raghuvir.

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Displaying 1 - 30 of 199 reviews
Profile Image for Shinde.
Author 3 books107 followers
December 10, 2015
Good luck and 13 ?

Triskaideaphobia – the fear of number 13, is rampant in hotel rooms, in aeroplane flight seatings, in the quest for ‘auspicious days’ and in Friday the 13th.

Ashwin Sanghi deliberately flaunts ‘13 rules’ as a thumbs down for superstition. He re-defines luck from ‘chance’ to ‘choice’ and from ‘destiny’ to ‘definitely achievable’, from ‘trial and error’ to ‘trainable’ and from ‘probable’ to ‘practical’.

Genre: Non-Fiction. 13 stepsto bloody good luck

Pros: Sanghi quotes ,’Easy reading is damn hard writing.’

Well, he makes this an easy reading, replete with -

a] Snappy anecdotes about Who’s Who of successful personas in sports, politics, films, business, literature and art. Read Lincoln, Gandhi, Steve Jobs, JRD Tata, Beethoven SRK, Manekshaw etc.

b] Snap-of-the-fingers lists: 13 key attitudes mnemonic-ked into CAUSE RIPPLES (confidence in ideas, alertness to opportunities, unlearn prejudices, situation analysis etc); 5 drivers of Emotional Quotient; 9 categories of human needs; 3 categories of fear.

c] Quotes and zany one liners: for example, ‘Winners quit, quit often and quit without guilt’, ‘ Learn to ignore criticism by first learning to ignore applause’, ‘ Kindest word in the world is the unkind word left unsaid.’

d] Surprise moments and ‘Guess-who?’ galore: ***SPOILER ALERT*** – Dileep Kumar transforms into A.R. Rahman, Issur Danielovitch into Kirk Douglas, Abhas Ganguly into Kishore Kumar, as they grab, wrangle, wrestle and pulp good luck into golden opportunities.

Cons: In hindsight, everybody has 20: 20 vision.

So, I knew every anecdote, risk, decision and situation would end up as a triumph. There were no ‘failed calculated risks’ or ‘disastrous ventures’.

I mean, for every SRK there are many starry eyed hopefuls who end up at the fag end of stardom. For every Tata, there are risk-takers who end up suicidal in bankruptcy.

So, like I said, ‘Good luck is in retrospect – not as a prophesy’

Verdict: Easy read. Quotable. Inspiring. Slim volume.

Pages : 148.

Publishers: Westland.

Cover Design: Very innovative.

Profile Image for Vaiibhav Nigam.
Author 5 books31 followers
February 27, 2017
This is probably one of the best book I have ever read on 'Self Improvement', or should I say on 'luck'? Mr. Sanghi did an amazing job. He compiled plethora of lucky people's habits into 13 habits
Quoting from successful people, author has effectively connected dots for the essential traits to become lucky. Reading and applying it will definitely help to become lucky - in short increase the opportunities. A must read for people who wants to get away from comfort zone but are afraid of what next
However, it isn't much different from a regular self-help book. For someone who reads quite often from blogs, newspapers, books, most anecdotes might not be new.
Overall, it is more like a motivation book than a self-help book, which in my view is a good thing.
Profile Image for Aruna Kumar Gadepalli.
2,857 reviews116 followers
December 8, 2014
Writing a non-fiction is really difficult as the book needs to be really interesting along with the topic otherwise one will get bored, this book really made me hook till I finish, though most of the points discussed one might already be aware but narrative style with lots of anecdotes, personal and of the successful and other wise really made the book interesting. I read the fiction of the author, I picked up this book to see how well the author might make me read this book, feel the author succeeded in making me read the book without a halt in the journey of the completing the book.
Profile Image for Kajal Dhamija.
97 reviews15 followers
October 21, 2018
The title and the cover (my copy had that of a nimbu mirchi) is utterly misleading!
Rather than being about luck, this book is more of a scientific approach to gain success (*and happiness*).
A greatly motivating read, which Will help you simply live in a way that will bring to you what's called luck.
A must read!
Profile Image for Rajiv Tanwar.
Author 1 book6 followers
February 26, 2015
It is a nice short motivational book like many other books in the market. If one combines it with Dale Carnegie's How to make Friends and Influence People, one can learn a lot about how to climb the wall to success.
Examples quoted are good, even though some of them were often quoted elsewhere.
Leave apart the discussion of whether there is something called Luck and if one can become Lucky by following all the 14 rules, one can for sure adopt the healthy and positive approaches mentioned in the book to be better equipped to meet Success in his life.
I would recommend this book to anybody who is beginning to loose heart after meeting failure. A regular read of such books helps one introspect and pin point the cause of failure giving an opportunity to correct and try once again...again...till you become Successful.
I loved the way Ashwin Sanghi ended the book - a short story to remind the readers that the most important success in life is to be among your family members, enjoying a cup of coffee with them and leading a contended life in your house.
Everything else comes after that!
Absolute truth.
Profile Image for Neetu Nazareth.
40 reviews7 followers
December 12, 2018
I started this book this morning at 10:30 and finished it at 1. I didn't take a break in between, that's how glued I was to reading it. What set's this book apart from the rest of the self-help/motivational/how to be successful type of books is that this particular short book is packed with real life success stories, each of which wonderfully explains the different ways luck can favor you.

Full review: http://neetusbookblog.blogspot.in/201...
Profile Image for Sagar Ladhwani.
21 reviews20 followers
July 16, 2020
Well well, authors have a unique knack of coming up with interesting titles. And we as readers, do make our choices for being a bit lenient in our picking when it is by our trusted writers. Nevertheless, not always you get what you seek!

Now anyways, I am not a self-help fan, so I might be a bit extra critical of it. But this book didn't add anything new to my existing information of the world. Maybe because it has been years since it was published and that self-help genre has evolved a lot over the years. But, the book was pretty cliched and I guess, everyone would know all the mentioned steps in it.

Still considering the fact that it is a very short read and is full of anecdotes. (I mean, you can actually find one in every alternate page), you can pick it up. It's a quick read and good for beginners.
Profile Image for Nitin.
17 reviews11 followers
August 23, 2018
"In life ninety-nine percent is about good luck. The final one percent? That's called Bloody Good Luck " ;)
Profile Image for Sreevatsa.haritasa.
82 reviews15 followers
March 12, 2017
Well organised. The 13 steps in detail makes one adapt them and attract that bloody luck into life. The live examples for each step from famous personalities will just make the point through.
Profile Image for Abhilash Ruhela.
642 reviews64 followers
February 2, 2015


What happens when you a lot of efforts into something and still could not find yourself near success? The situation gets even more impatient when you find someone else with less seriousness and dedication winning it over you. The first thing that we do is blame our luck and abuse our God. Right? If you believe that luck plays its part in your success and failure and it isn't in your control but something that God has already written it for you, please go to a bookstore and pick up Ashwin Sanghi's first non-fictional attempt named "13 Steps to Bloody Good Luck". I have read only the last two books of Ashwin Sanghi and the kind of thrillers that he write, I was never expecting such kind of a non-fiction work by him. I had a conversation with him when he told me that he's writing a non-fiction and I thought it might become another wanna-be like Chetan Bhagat's What Young India Wants. But surprisingly, I am mind-blown and this book is surely going to change my life for sure.

After reading Robin Sharma's motivational books, I generally do not find another self-help books as interesting as his but I can definitely list this one in the list undoubtedly. I liked the topic that Ashwin Sanghi has chosen for writing in a genre that he never tried before. His language has been so friendly and amicably good that it will help even a 10th std child to read this book and take out something from it. Right from the first page, the pace that the author has picked up is adventurous and it does not end until the last word isn't scribbled. A reader will find it not only hard but impossible to keep this book unfinished. I completed it in one sitting though I want to read it once again part by part on daily basis.

This book surely has the potential of changing one's life and approach. The 13 steps that Ashwin has discussed as easy to implement and therefore this book is going to work with the masses. The examples that he has given on almost every page are so inspirational that you'll want to cut each of them and paste in on every wall of your home. From Facebook, Google, Flipkart, Whatsapp to Walmart, Ratan Tata, Ambani, Lakshmi Mittal to Amish Tripathi, Chetan Bhagat to Sachin Tendulkar and Amitabh Bachchan- Ashwin Sanghi has given every type of example to prove his point and make you believe that it's possible even for you. I also liked how he ended the book by discussing EQ and introducing LQ. The 14th step added in the end is also a wonderful post-climax.

The best part is that Sanghi kept the book short and didn't make it 500-pages thick as mostly motivational books are sidelined because of their over-description and case-studies. Also, at Rs. 100, this book is GOD. Yes! And Amazon is giving it for Rs. 50. If you even once cursed luck for your failure, do read this book as you will know how luck is in your own hands. And mind you, don't think that the point has been over-exaggerated in a theoretical manner. It's not. It's as genuine as our casual talks. Get the book. I rate it 4.5 out of 5. GO FOR IT!!!

Thanks.

ABHILASH RUHELA - VEERU!!!
Profile Image for Nistha Tripathi.
Author 4 books71 followers
March 13, 2015
As our average attention span and patience dwindles, we have started looking for quick reads that impart a sense of wisdom or entertainment in a short time or at least be so interesting that we don't mind spending longer time reading them. In that respect, Ashwin Sanghi has done a great job in keeping the rhetoric to the minimum and sharing interesting anecdotes and examples that will stay longer in our memories. I also admire his switching side from fiction to non fiction so elegantly. Here's to looking forward to more reads from him. I would recommend this book to anyone who harbors a dream and works hard towards it.

Coming to the content, the book deals with the topic of how to create your own luck by capturing and creating more opportunities around you. The idea is not new but is told in a fluid way. You can find examples of many people you know in there including Ashwin himself. I finished the book in under four hours and ended up feeling hopeful and motivated. What else can you want?
Profile Image for Karthick Udaiy.
49 reviews4 followers
July 9, 2015
LUCK Four letter words plays vital role of everyone life According to my view of luck was " Luck brings you success but hard work necessary with-in the part of success. You can won only with the luck but that was not stayed in permanent.
Hard work + Luck = Success". This Book brings you not only with hard work also some various process associated with luck. This is my first self help book before i had not read any book. Ashwin successful in mythological fiction before He sold million copies national wide also translated in various languages now also he deserved in this type of genre. He wrote and conveyed very well with perfect examples.Each lines gave you inspiring and motivational, positive attitude approach to face the life.I enjoyed the book from cover-cover each example give you extra strength & power while you read. Some stories he wrote in amidst that were very thought-full & eye opener. Overall great book must read it for everyone & worth reading, I would like to give 5/5 Stars to this wonderful book. NO Second Thoughts
Go For it!!!!!! Read it!!!!
Profile Image for Tavleen Kaur (Travelling Through Words).
427 reviews75 followers
March 22, 2021
13 Steps To Bloody Good Luck by Ashwin Sanghi explains what exactly "luck" is and how you attract it into your life. While this book is a fast read and I found a lot of logical and useful things, I felt that the same thing was repeated again and again. Seek more opportunities, grab the right ones, follow your intuition and be nice. There are also stories of other people on almost every other page and while that may be interesting to many readers, I found it quite tedious.

Check out my book reviews, recommendations, and other content on Travelling Through Words and my bookstagram!
Profile Image for Sandip Balakrishnan.
107 reviews16 followers
October 8, 2017
Ashwin Sanghiz flirt with a non fictional motivational writing does come up trumps in parts.The anecdotes are first class and as one anecdote in his very book"The book is goos as well as realistic.Where it is good it is not realistic and where it is realistic it is not good".The charm seems to be lost out on the part wherein he has not tried to stem the rot arising from a continuous hammering of anecdotes and not tried to break the monotony.Otherwise it is a welcome read for those who wold like to see real time examples "ready to use"
79 reviews7 followers
April 13, 2015
A decent read. Not too much of substance but nice anecdotes. The author has developed his own framework and has tried force fitting various parameters at places. The title of the book is pretty nice (literally 13 and luck together ;)). Some of the stories/quotes etc have been picked up from commonplace and are too an extent cliche. Ashwin is great at fiction and I think this book doesn't suit his personality.
Profile Image for Awdhesh Singh.
Author 21 books281 followers
Read
February 1, 2015
"13 Steps to Bloody Good Luck" is an interesting read full of anecdotes and interesting stories. However, it becomes ultimately a self-help book which could have titled "13 Steps to Success" as it tells the steps to succeed. I did not find much originality in this book as the content is quite different than what you expect from the title of the book.
Profile Image for JK.
39 reviews2 followers
February 12, 2022
1 Minute Book Summary In English, हिन्दी & ગુજરાતી

https://1minutebooksummary.wordpress....

● “Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity.” ~ Seneca
● "जब तैयारी की मुलाकात अवसर से होती है तब उसे किस्मत कहते है।" ~ सेनेका
● "તૈયારીનો મેળાપ તક સાથે થાય ત્યારે જે થાય છે એ છે નસીબ." ~ સેનેકા
Profile Image for Anandraj R.
31 reviews5 followers
January 17, 2015
My first book of 2015 :)

Good little book that can be finished in a day or 2. Easy and simple with loads of positive thoughts. Especially i loved the anecdotes even though a few of them were already familiar.
Profile Image for Ajay Sampat.
3 reviews
June 19, 2015
Destiny can be controlled by the decisions we take. The author did a fantastic job presenting his research with stories and quotes from successful scholars, politicians, artists, athletes and celebrities throughout history. Great quick read. Highly recommend it.
Profile Image for Manish Gvalani.
60 reviews29 followers
August 15, 2015
It's a very simple heart felt book .. I loved it because of examples and stories expressed in every chapter that proved to be reference points for all ways pointed out..
Profile Image for Shivasankari.
14 reviews6 followers
April 18, 2018
Looking at the cover image and name of the book, I assumed it would be about the superstitions associated with Luck.

However, the book "13 steps to bloody good luck" is not about tying lemon and green chilies on your front door to the keep evil eyes away. The author tries to look at Luck, a commonly misunderstood topic in a logical manner. He offers us a list of intrinsic characteristics that you should develop in order to get lucky.

As per this book, luck is not just another name for "Hard work." Also, Ashwin Sanghi is pretty adamant about the fact that 'luck' could not be boiled down to just one trait like perseverance or focus. He justifies his claims with the argument that "Not all hardworking or persistent people are successful." That's a valid point.

The book is not just a list of "must-acquire traits." The author has packed a lot more in the book than a mere list. He quotes several interesting examples, stories, books, studies, and personalities to bring home the point. Though several instances mentioned in the book are common knowledge, looking at it from a new perspective, just connects the dots and results in a "light bulb" moment.

I could not probably pack all the learnings in a short review. So, I'll just gloss over the instances. The author claims lucky people are thick-skinned and they are not affected by temporary failures. This was a revelation to me. I liked this step and incorporated it into my life. The author also stresses upon emotional intelligence and tells how remaining calm in all situations is an important trait to become successful.

Goodness- Lucky people understand the power of goodness
(Rajinikanth returning the money to distributors when they suffered a loss by screening Baba. That small act of goodness resulted in humongous support from them in his last movie)

Passion- lucky people look for ways to get paid for their passion
(Google - Larry Page & Sergey Brin started Google as a research project in 1996 - paid ads accustomed- They had literally no ads until 2000. Which means they sustained five years without any revenue. The founders were focused single-mindedly on building the world’s best search engine. Money was just a by-product of them)

Unlearn- lucky people unlearn old attitude and approaches
(John Grisham had to forget that he was a lawyer to write a time to kill. Dan Brown had to forget he was academic to write Da Vinci code. Ashwin Sanghi Chanakya’s chant, Krishna key, Rozabal line)

I will not disclose the rest 10 steps, as that will demotivate you not to buy the book, assuming that I have already shared everything one needs to know about becoming Bloody Lucky. You must buy the book.

My only issue with the book was the information overload. The author has packed all the wisdom in one chapter, the luck harvester. Wish, he had broken it down into another chapter. Not really a huge fan of the 14th chapter either.

The non-preachy tone made this book a rather easy read. The tone is neither conceited like Robin Sharma's books nor is it a case study like Rashmi Bansal's novels. Ashwin Sanghi's first venture into the realm of non-fiction is not as great as his fiction, but nonetheless, a decent attempt.
Profile Image for Parikshit Shah.
44 reviews7 followers
November 1, 2016
First of all thanks to Westland Publications for sending an autographed copy of this book – 13 Steps to Bloody Good Luck – as a prize of a Twitter contest. This is the third Ashwin Sanghi I have read, the previous two being Chanakya’s Chant and The Sialkot Saga.
This is something very different from Ashwin’s thriller-fiction writings, but still it manages to keep the reader engaged, from the first page to the last. More importantly, it is in simple language unlike many books of that genre which contain so heavy wordings and phrases that one feels its an uphill task to practice anything of the book. The Author has kept the chapters simple, interesting and still very impactful with its message.
The thirteen steps are not only explained well, but every section has a number of examples. Stories of many renowned and celebrated personalities are accompanied by many experiences of author’s own life. The thirteen steps are summed up in one mnemonic Causing Ripple at the end of the book. In micro detail, these thirteen steps are named Confidence, Alertness, Unlearn, Situation, Intuition, Network, Goodness, Risks, Information, Positivity, Passion, Leverage and Experiment. The book makes you believe that to be lucky not something which will happen by its own, but one needs to make it happen. As I said, the book is not tiresome one but intriguing. In less than 150 pages, Ashwin Sanghi almost succeeded in convincing his message to a reader.
This book is referable to everyone who’s looking some inspiration for life. I am looking forward to read next book of this series ’13 Steps to Bloody Good Wealth’.
Profile Image for Nitin Vadher.
111 reviews2 followers
September 6, 2019

The first question which came to my mind while picking this book. Does luck itself is enough to be on top or whether hard work is also important?

Very nice and interesting book, you have came across many people who are on the upper side compared to other, the thought which comes to your mind is, they are lucky.

This book gives many such anecdotes which give you example that successful people are born like us but their execution of work and presence of mind makes them on top. Also author has provided rich content of one liner and good quotations of successful peoples. I have read the work of author more than twice, so I know the writing style of author which is easy to read and easily digestible.

Generally non-fictions are boring, but here author has provided 13 steps to bloody good luck in such a way that this book comes under un-put-down-able. If you are seeking any small but motivational content than I highly recommend this book. Forget about whether you are lucky or not, but I guarantee that your thinking process will surely change in positive way after reading this book.
Profile Image for Aayushi.
7 reviews
April 21, 2020
I have read many self help books by foreign authors but they are not that relatable to us as our cultural dynamics is very different from other countries.

My dad recommend “13 steps to Bloody Good Luck” by Ashwin Sanghi to me, I started the book and by 12th page I had given up. I don’t know what got into me and I thought I should give this book a change and Man! I am so glad I did. This book is one of the best books I have read till date. It is so inspiring and motivating that once you finish reading it, it will leave a mark in your life.

What really makes the writing so appealing is that the author has used his own experience to explain various aspects of the luck. Page after page every gist is explained with an inspiring experiences of many famous people who build their empire by using one or some of the 13 points explained in the book.

"One per cent bloody good luck is simply the ability to catch the ninety-nine per cent when it presents itself. "
Profile Image for MP.
126 reviews1 follower
July 25, 2019
Very Very Inspiring..

Instead of talking about some concept, Ashwin has re-narrated lot of events from lot of successful and influential leaders starting from Aristotle to Mr. Narendra modi which inspires you automatically.

One of the best self help book. I have noted down lot of points, need to put it in a diary.

I became lazy these days and not running often. Today morning, I woke up at 5 and prepared myself to run. Suddenly I got hungry and had only junk food to eat. Instead of eating junk and run, I decided to skip the run even though I felt guilty. I didn't get sleep afterwards so I thought to read this book. I read for 15 mins, immediately I put my shoes and went for run.

This book simply inspires you to achieve things.
37 reviews13 followers
July 19, 2017
By book cover(with lemon & chilli) i thought that i was some astrological sort of book.But,back cover was telling different story,so i search it on this website and found it.

The language of book is simple,but the content of book is interesting.It is all about the 13 ways to be lucky with example.For beginners in self help/motivational book it is excellent book to start. If your are fond of self help books then all 13 ways you have read somewhere.But here you will find all 13 ways in a single book.Beside Author have formulate a short cut so you can remember it easily.

I was willing to give it four star,but the simplicity of book force to do otherwise.
Profile Image for Kaushik M.
7 reviews4 followers
January 10, 2021
I was very unsure about reading this book, considering the title and how I'm not a big believer in luck. I went ahead with reading this book anyway as I enjoyed the other books in "13 Steps to Bloody Good ..." Disguised under the title is another self-help that talks about increasing your odds of success. As someone who has read multiple self-help books, this one was basic, and a lot of the references are more commonly known examples or stories.
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Overall, it's a short read. But, not recommended as there are better self-help books out there. Consider checking other books in the series as they are informative and helpful.
Profile Image for pran?.
156 reviews17 followers
September 17, 2023
I'd always thought that I was a fiction girlie till I read this book. Non-fiction and self help felt like something boring people with a lack of life would read, but BOY WAS I IN FOR A SURPRISE.

I'd consumed so much self help content on youtube that I thought that reading the same content shouldn't be too hard of a job, and I'm so happy that I made that decision, my life has been changed.

I loved this book. It was so simple, so many of the quotes made me googoogaagaa over them and there were so many parts that made me go 'OMG SO TRUE' because well, it was SO TRUE.

The title of the book lives up to its name. Filled with examples and anecdotes, EVERYONE SHOULD READ THIS BOOK.
4 reviews
July 10, 2017
I am currently reading it and so far I can say that this non-fiction proved to be very helpful for me. Mr. Sanghi has done the fabulous job indeed. This book gives you several real life examples that will make you look twice on your life. It's is not the thick piece of paper yet it is the masterpiece in 176 pages only.
Give a try to this.
Ashwin Sanghi
Profile Image for Sandeep Bhat.
144 reviews3 followers
January 20, 2018
A good motivational book, Ashwin forays away from his mythological stronghold but continues with his story telling flair with interesting anecdotes. 13 Steps to Bloody Good Luck tells you SOP to be adopted to become lucky synonymous with success here. The book is filled with lots of interesting anecdotes from different people lives that are intelligently combined with the context. A must read book for people who want to get better in their "Lucky Quotient" along with their IQ and EQ.
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