Two sides of the same coin!

Spotted as a tiny dot in the map of India, far away from all the states, making one wonder how an enthralling place have its own brutal stories, proud to have almost zero crime rate,  if you still could not guess the place – this travel story is all about Andaman. Amidst the Covid and a zero travel in 2020, we took the risk and landed at the place comprising of roughly 300 islands situated at the Bay of Bengal on Mar 10th 2021. Being my first experience of an island aerial view, it appeared like tiny forest submerged in the vast ocean. 

After a quick fresh up, we went to explore the Ross and North Bay Island by taking a boat from the Water Sports Complex. The boat drove at such high speed making the water splash across and bringing us to the gateway of one of the prominent historical places which is “Netaji Subash Chandra Bose Island”, erstwhile known as “Ross Island”.

Named after Sir Daniel Ross who was the first to inhabit the island in 1788, serving as the British colony’s Administrative Headquarters for 85 years since 1857, acting as the center of penal settlement, occupied by Japanese from 1942-45 during the Second World War, serving as strategic location to Netaji to take Japanese help to fight against the Britishers who hoisted the Indian flag on Dec 30, 1943, the ruins of the bazaar, bakery, church, printing press, water treatment plant, cemetery, pond, hospital, swimming pool, the Chief Commisioner’s residence, the Japanese bunker, etc each of it speaks the history of this abandoned island. Other than the history, this place has more to offer – sanctuary which is filled with deer and peacocks whereby you can closely interact with them and feed them too. With the rich history associated and as a tribute to marking 75 years of first time hoisting the Indian tri-colour in British India, the island was renamed as “Netaji Subash Chandra Bose Island” on Dec 30, 2018.

Post spending close to 2 hours, our next stop over was at the North Bay Island which is featured on the backside of old INR 20 note. It is a place for water sport activities – Scuba diving, Sea Walk, Dolphin Glass Boat, Snorkeling, etc and one can visit the light house as well. I did Sea Walk in which the guide took me around 8 feet down where I could walk on the seabed, the close views of the corals, fishes were a visual treat.

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Later in the evening, we spent some moments of silence with a cup of coffee, pakora and bonda and lost ourselves in the ecstatic Corbyn’s Cove beach surrounded by tall coconut palm trees. After the wonderful moments of quietness, we attended another deep thought-provoking event which is the light and sound show at the Cellular Jail in Port Blair, a must visit place. Serving as a colonial prison, this building has seven wings each of it having seven stories comprising of 696 cells and the building materials were brought from Myanmar (Burma). The spokes were so designed to isolate prisoners whereby the face of the cell in one spoke saw the back of the other.  The prisoners were brutally tortured & given inhumane treatment in terms of no sanitation, hygiene, impractical quotas of oil extraction, were served limited food and water not fit for human consumption leading to insanity and death of most of the prisoners which is very well exhibited in the show and the background songs surges the patriotism hidden inside you. The museum and the entire jail will take minimum around 2-2.5 hours to cover which we covered on Mar 14th after returning to Port Blair to take the flight back to Bangalore. The peepal tree, the walls, the hanging room, the prisoner dresses, the clock, the oil mill, every brick, everything echoes aloud the horror stories of the Kaala Pani and it is my personal urge to everyone reading – “The freedom we enjoy today was at the cost of innumerable lives, struggles and torture and let’s not take it for granted. Let us not disrespect this place by reducing to just another selfie spot without understanding the scarifies behind it or a simple walk around the museum without knowing our history” and here I conclude with Veer Savarkar quote who served 50 years in the jail bearing all tortures “Oh Motherland!! Sacrifice for you is like Life. Living without you is Death.”  

The above depicts my search for answers, my turbulence while travelling in the ferry from Port Blair to Neil Island for close to 2.5 hours on Mar 11th morning. We stayed at Neil Banjara, a decent budget resort and the best part was the network was poorest with zero Wifi. Neil renamed as Shaheed Dweep, is a tiny island untouched by commercialization which can be easily covered in a day and a half. To have a unique experience, explore this miniature in a cycle, the roads are flat making cycling a cake walk. Our first exploration was a naturally shaped bridge like rock also known as the Howrah bridge, a name given by the Bengali settlers. After walking around 200- 300 metres and crossing a short path of the dead corals, the view opens to the natural wall, once we cross the natural wall and start moving, we witnessed innumerable under water creatures like stag horn corals, finger corals, color-changing corals, variety of fishes like zebra fish, star fish, sea cucumber, etc which are always visible in the shallow water during low tides.  We spent half a day exploring this place despite the scorching heat without even realizing it’s 3 PM and we were empty stomach. I had never seen such variety of live creatures so close in a natural environment and hence this place gave me immense pleasure. The excitement we had every time we spotted a different type of coral or saw a unique kind of fish is overwhelming. Grabbing Maggie, Aam panna and having a giant sized tender coconut on the way we rushed to Lakshmanpur beach for the sunset.

I fell in love with the Lakshmanpur beach in the very first sight. Turquoise blue color, white sand and the sun rays, feeling ecstatic ended up meditating for some time without realizing that we would have the best view the next day morning when we cycled again to this beach where there was not a single human or dog on the beach. When beauty meets silence and you are just alone, the experience is always blissful.

Before heading to Lakshmanpur, we had been to Sitapur beach around 4 AM, enjoyed the sun rise sipping cup of coffee. Sun rise & set happens very early in Andaman, being an avid traveler, waking up early was never an issue, in fact adored the scooty ride from resort to the beach.

It was time to bid adieu to this lonely planet to head towards the most happening destination of Andaman – Swaraj Deep, popularly known as Havelock island on Mar 12th.

Though we mostly travel on budget, we did not want to compromise on luxury at this place and hence landed up in Havelock Beach Resort with a sea view room. The plan for the day was to explore the most popular sun set at Radhanagar beach. The view of the beach made me think that someone must have got mesmerized with its natural beauty, and hence named as “Radha” comparing with the Hindu mythological figure Radha’s unparallel and splendid beauty. Surrounded by coconut trees, tropical forest and the infinite view, I could have easily spent one full day relaxing in the huts / benches / chairs on the beach, but unfortunately, since our ferry from Neil to Havelock got delayed we could spend only 2 hours in the evening at this beach.

While we were dancing and merrying at the DJ organized in the resort, got a call at 11 PM to reach the spot for Night Kayaking. This is my first experience in Kayaking and to add on to that excitement, I was doing this activity in the dark expecting to see a lot of bioluminescence. Bioluminescence is basically the production and emission of light by living organisms like glow worms and deep-sea fish. Both of us being amateur in Kayaking, we were either paddling in opposite directions or at different speeds making the kayak boat take rounds initially but after a while we were on track. Once we were away from the city light, we were able to see the wonder of the world, the sea glowing every time we paddled, it seems like the LED lights we use for home decoration during Diwali / Christmas. We rested for a while in between and as we gazed up, could get an incredible star view.  We paddle and look down or we relax and look up, both gave us a radiance view that we did not realize being amateur we have paddled for 3 hours with no signs of exhaustion.

Next day on Mar 13th, early morning we were up for another adventure – our first Scuba dive and it was now time for us to tick off from our To do List!  There are 3 kinds of scuba dive – Shore dive, Boat dive and Discover scuba. We opted for Boat dive, the guides explained and trained us prior to dive with immense patience and now it was time for me to jump and discover the under water world life.

We had very minimum time left to go to the next place – Elephant beach which if one wishes to go by trek need to reach the place by 12PM. Alternatively, one can take the boat to reach the place. I recommend the trek trail as we got to see few tall trees, pass through a mangrove & witness few sulky creatures at the mangrove. This place is famous for water sports activities and recommend carrying a spare dress if you wish to do any activity. I just did the Jet Skiing and had nice fun moments sitting on the wooden logs seeing people doing various activities like sofa ride, banana ride, para sailing etc.  

Next day , it was time to see the last sun rise for us at Andaman at Kalapathar beach and the black rocks at this sea is what earns its name. Be the sun rise at Sitapur or Kalapthar, both were exclusive in its own way and now we had to return to Port Blair to explore the unfinished places – Cellular Jail and Chidiya Tapu

Owing to Covid restrictions, we were not allowed to visit the captain room or get the front view from the ship, but God heard our prayers and the captain of this ferry was broad minded to let us explore it. We spent most of the journey from Havelock to Port Blair talking to the captain and his crew, understanding their life and experience, etc and even getting the view from the ship front.  

We did not factor in the 1 hour loss due to lunch time closure of the cellular jail, around 2 – 2.5 hours ride and 30-45 minutes trek to reach Chidiya Tapu hill top view in our initial plan and hence due to time constraint, we had to rush exploring the cellular jail. Andaman has many other spots to be explored, and hence we decided that we will keep half day only to explore the cellular jail in our next visit. Though we did not feel good not exploring this place by reading through everything in the museum, we consoled ourselves saying the most famous dialogue from the movie YJHD – “Tum kitna bhi try karo Bunny, Life mein kuch na kuch chhotega hi, toh jahann hain, wahin ka mazaa lete hain na” and enjoyed our highway ride to the Chidiya Tapu. We were just in time before the gateway to the hilltop could close. Just parked our bike, and started trekking our way, the entire trail is a jungle way with snapshot of the sea sometimes appearing like a movie trailer. The view of single massive rock staying grounded on the endless sea made me think again we are a microscopic creature of the entire Universe. We had to walk back again as the sun set spot was a different one. While walking back, since it was getting nearer to sun set, could hear a lot of birds chirping justifying the name – Chidiya Tapu. The cool breeze and the highway made the ride back from Chidiya Tapu memorable one.

As the sun said goodbye for the day, it was time for us too to end our voyage at Andaman and fly back to Bangalore taking the early morning flight next day on Mar 15th. Few places were a bit of rush, we felt a day extra would have helped, but nevertheless we relaxed and spent colossal time as well in lot many places. The horrifying historical tortures and stories on one side and the beaches, the sand, the corals, varied sea creatures, the rising and setting sun, the chirping birds on other side made me feel like a place having two faces of the same coin – one face making me feel awful, gloomy of the sacrifices and other one giving me enormous pleasure and bliss.

Lost to be found again!

Lost amid the desert

The destination is no near

There is an enigmatic fear

And my heart deeply hurt.

Ah!! whispered the palm trees

“Few are blessed to grow in fertile land

And some are destined to grow in the harsh weather

Either you roast under the scorching sun

Or you blossom in the oasis

And show the life inside you.”

As I looked ahead again,

Let the thirst in desert be

Little moisture is what I see

No matter cactus is on the trail

I shall not let the journey go in vain.

Blissful experience in the Divine Land of Lama

 Spirits floating high, enthusiasm at its peak,
Seeing the huge mountains touch the sky.
Clouds welcome us by shower of snow
Heaven or earth, I don’t know.
There flows a stream in hush
Seeing the beauty around, my adrenaline rush
Mesmerized, I bow down to nature,
Silently being grateful to the creature!

It was a flawless masala chai with a perfect blend of myriad flavors, aroma, and just the way one cannot describe the taste of the tea, but can only enjoy it by drinking, this journey is an experience which is very hard to express. I think every person would run short of words to describe the exquisiteness of their trip to Leh-Ladakh and I have made my best attempt to pen it down.

Post multiple conversation and pondering, it was finally decided that we would hit the Manali route to reach Leh. Though we embarked our Leh expedition on June 24th, we boarded the flight from Bangalore to Amritsar on June 22nd.  A short stay of day & a half in Amritsar, we first headed towards the Attari – Wagah Border. The sentiments in the entire event of flag retreat session reminded me of the madness we have when India plays against Pakistan in any cricket tournament. Next day, early morning around 04:30 hours we were at the Golden temple and the view was delightful. Gold rays shimmering on the lake and the serenity around would make even an atheist bow down and utter “Wahe Guru Wahe Jiyo” (English translation: Great beyond description is the experience of God’s wisdom and experience of God blessing soul). Post this, we hopped into the Jallianwalah Bagh and the India Partition museum, a must visit as it has an insightful collection of the experience & struggle by the people during the partition.

Travel doesn’t end without shopping for the ladies and we roamed around the Amritsar streets, picking a lot of gifts for friends and families until we boarded our bus to Manali in the evening.

After a quick fresh-up and breakfast at Manali, we began our road trip to Leh. Since it was the holiday season, the roadblock till we crossed the Rohtang pass seemed like it would beat our Bangalore traffic jam. Being the first pass witnessed in this journey, we were awed with the beauty of Rohtang pass without any hint that the nature has lot more beautiful wonders and sights for us in the impending route.

The roads might be bumpy, broken, death-defying, but with the Bhaga River flowing along the roadside until Jispa, everything else is simply forgotten and the first day ended with our stay in Jispa.

Tiny lake, crystal clear water with the surrounding concealed by mist, here is the world, where you find beauty in small things, and that is the Suraj Tal. Next, we hit the bar, with no DJ party or rain dance, but the snow dance at the Zingzing bar. I wonder who came up with this funky name, but the road began to deteriorate post this point as we started to ascend towards the Baralacha La. The route was covered by snow in all angles which reminded me of the whims I had in my childhood whereby I saw myself floating on the white clouds and at 15,900 feet of the Baralacha La, felt like I am the Alice in wonderland.

Beauty and beast co-exist at the top of the Baralacha La as there is a haunted site “Shaheed Sainik Bhawan”. I could not see the site clearly as it was completely covered with snow. It is believed that 3 soldiers were killed and eaten by someone when the Indian army had a post in the Baralacha La.

By the time I settled from the haunted story of Sainik Bhawan, our car headed towards Killing Sarai. Another peculiar name, but, the roads are so awful and terrifying that I realized why it is called the Killing Sarai. The drive was no less than any roller coaster ride. We halted for lunch at Sarchu which is also one of the highly recommended camping site.

When I crossed a series of 21 hairpin bends on the way to Nakeela, the third high altitude pass of the journey, I witnessed water bottles being dumped in one of the bends and a small temple in the corner. It is believed that a truck broke down on that bend and when the conductor got down to place a stone behind, accidentally the driver crushed the conductor by rear wheels and with the fear, the driver just fled away though the conductor was asking for help and some water. Hence, the belief to serve water. Just the valleys are no short of beauty, it is no short of haunted stories as well.

With these travel stories, and the view of the majestic mountains, we touched two more breath-taking views – Nakeela at 15,547 feet and Lachung La at 16,616 feet.

 "Smooth, neat straight road
Red, brown, black peaks around
But there is a stunning twist
As I see the highland submerged with mist
And suddenly there is a bizarre affair
Since I see snowflakes everywhere
Making the Morre plains glow like a newly-wed in white gown
With these majestic mountains acting like the Bride’s crown"

When we drove down the Morre plains it was an eye-catching experience with the fresh snow coupled with colourful terrain. I managed to convince the driver to let me drive in this road which was a memorable experience.

We reached the Tanglang La at 17,582 feet and the view of the sky with the snow-capped mountains during the sunset was inexplicable. I was grateful for the two hurdles we faced due to snow fall and road clearing during the day, else I would have never experienced such a remarkable sunset view. It made me a bit philosophical, “Sometimes hurdles in life are good as the Almighty has something more beautiful in store for you“.

With a bag full of memories and experiences, we ended our Day 2 near Leh.

Day 3 was relaxing and a day to acclimatize ourselves with only sight-seeing in Leh. The small city has plenty to offer like the Leh Palace, Tsemo Castle, General Zorawar Fort, Jama Masjid, Basgo Palace, Stok Palace and many more monasteries but we shortlisted our visits to Rancho School (Remember 3 Idiots movie), Thikse Monastery, Shanti Stupa and Hall of Fame. No doubt, Leh is an amazing place with the cold winds, harsh sun, snowcapped peaks view all around, but it is worth every single breath to take the long road trip from Manali to Leh instead of a direct flight as I think the experiences and views are no less than the paradise.

It is advised to visit the Hall of Fame around 4 pm in the evening and spend 2-3 hours to get the glimpse of the events & documentaries placed in the museum. It is constructed and maintained by the Indian Army as an honour to our soldiers. The museum has a repository of the wars fought post-Independence with Pakistan & China including a brief overview on how our soldiers survive the extreme weather conditions of Siachen Glacier. It also has a memorial for all those jawans who laid their lives for our motherland. I ended my day attending Retreat Ceremony (Flag lowering) at 7 pm followed by a short video on the Kargil war.

Kargil is not a preferred place by everyone as there is just the war memorial at Dras, but I highly recommend a visit to this place, if you ever get an opportunity. When I listened to the briefing given by the officer at the memorial, it aroused goosebumps in me and when he directed towards the peaks – Tololing, Point 4875, Point 5060, Point 5100 and the snow-capped Tiger Hill which were re-captured by our brave soldiers, my heart silently saluted every single person involved in making Operation Vijay successful. Tiger hill was one of the toughest to be re-captured. They proved that if there is will and courage, nothing is impossible. It was a pride moment to walk up towards the Amar Jyoti Jawan with Indian flags on either side of the pavement.

The 20 minutes video played at the mini theater provides an overview of Kargil war, strategic importance of NH Delta 1, story of how the Indian army re-captured and highlights of army personnel who won gallantry awards. One might have to dedicate more than a day to visit Kargil, as the travel from Leh to Dras is around 280 kms , but I bet, when one sees these places, understand their life and our history, there will be no regrets visiting the war memorial. The words “Yeh Dil Maange More” by Late Captain Vikram Batra is still ringing in my head as I am writing here.

On the way to Kargil from Leh, we stopped at the Magnetic hill where the vehicle moves uphill even when the engine is in neutral mode. The fact is that because of the hill placement and the inability to see the horizon from this place, it creates an optical illusion, making the descending road look ascending.

A little further, I viewed the confluence of Indus & Zanskar rivers. Indus in crystal white and Zanskar in bottle green seemed to me like the long green carpet ending at the crystal reflected floor. There won’t be a single journey on any day in this road trip without crossing any pass and today I was standing at the highest point on the Leh – Srinagar highway, Fatu La Top at 13,478 feet. It was heavily stormy in the view point.

Day 5 was another long journey heading back to Leh from Kargil and we had 2 places in our plate to cover which was skipped in the interest of time while driving down to Kargil. Ladakh is a place which always surprises you with a unique sight pumping your energy levels despite the long routes and jerky roads. As I was enjoying the valley view, unexpectedly there were some broken mud cliffs and as I approached closer, it seemed like glittering golden formations. Thanks to the breeze, there are some naturally formed spectacular brilliant creations. The land resembles that of the Moon and hence the name “Moon Land” which is located near Lamayuru, 100 kms away from Leh. Yet another unique geographical feature which Ladakh has to offer. Just few kms away from Leh, we visited Pattar Saheb, a temple constructed and maintained by the Indian Army.

There is no end to the mountain passes I crossed in this valley and every single pass is exclusive and striking in its own way. One such pass we touched on the sixth day is the Chang La at 17,688 feet.  Located in the Nubra valley, this place has extreme cold and chilly winds blowing even at the mid-day.

The most difficult part to pen down is the beauty of Pangong Tso Lake. Located at 14,270 feet, the lake is around 134 kms long of which one third is in India and the rest in China. I could see multiple colour shades which made me re-think “Is water colourless?” (Check out the video at the end of this article!!). I was super-excited that we would be camping on the banks of the lake tonight.

Remember the 3 Idiots climax scene?? It was shot at this lake and it was beyond my imagination that the place could be so marvelous. For a moment, I was like “Am I in India?” The first view from the road, made my jaw drop, eagerly waiting for the car to halt. Within no time the car stopped, I ran towards the lake, it was more like the nature is calling me and I can’t further wait to embrace her. Now here while am writing, I cannot stop myself from personifying the blissful experience I had in this place.

The sun is shimmering all his love on her
Making her blush fashioning varied colour
The elegant touch of him made her shiver
Her graceful walk made him quiver
The sky & the mountains adding to the beauty
I laid back silently staring at their majesty.

Being at high altitude with cold breeze all the time, it is quite amazing that Leh valley clutches a cold desert as well. We were at Hunder which is commonly referred to “the desert in the sky” promising you a dazzling landscape with sand dunes, fenced by bare mountains with snowy peaks at the top of it and the sun rays making the sand dunes glow like silver. As you walk down these sand dunes, you sight cute bunch of double humped camels called as “Bactarian camels”. Enjoying the ride on the cute camels, sliding on the sand dunes after umpteen failure of trying to jump and dive into the sand dunes, we ended the day 7 of this trip.

On Day 8, we were heading towards a little unknown, secluded village which is divided by the border. Turtuk, a small isolated village is the last northernmost village prior to Pakistan occupied Kashmir. The greenery around, elegantly flowing Shyok river, lovely wooden bridges and stone structures, the famous apricot plantations, apple cheek kids with their families like having an unheard story buried within them.

My friend had an army lineage which allowed us to visit the RD 0, zero point of the India – Pakistan Line of Control where we could see the extended part of the Turtuk village in Pakistan. It is a bit scary to read “You are under enemy observation” while moving towards the LOC, but then after getting the glimpse of our army at the Kargil war memorial & Hall of fame, I eventually realized I am always in safe hands.

Later, we relished the delicious mulberry juice at the famous Balti Kitchen and moved towards Sasoma.

The place we went on Day 9 is not open for the civilians and luckily my friend’s army lineage helped us to visit the highest Battlefield in the world, “Siachen Glacier”. I felt overwhelmed to meet the South Indian jawans at the Sasoma guest house and taken back by the warmth in which one of them said “If we knew that the guests were from South India, we would have prepared idli or dosa for dinner” and when I realized that Raja Bhaiya (Jawan) knows Kannada, I felt like home.

It was a dream come true when I saw the gateway “Welcome to the world’s highest battlefield”. It was my deepest desire to visit this place right from the time I read the book “Beyond NJ 9842: The Siachen Saga”. I can only be grateful to everyone who made this happen, standing at my dream place, talking to the jawans, is one of the best moment of my life. The camp has OP Baba shrine with the idol of Bharat Mata in the center and Gods of all religions around. We spent some time at the Siachen Base School where the army men were getting trained on 2-point technique, 4-point technique to climb the ice wall and the irony is what is fun for me trying the 4-point technique is the battle of life and death for our jawans at the glacier.

The war memorial as a tribute to all those who have laid their life in the glacier, the pictures in the gallery which gives you a glimpse of the life of every jawan posted at the Glacier made my heart heavy instantaneously made me salute their bravery and be thankful for their selfless service and I want to put down 3 of the most touching quotes I read:

  • “The land is so barren and passes so high that only the best of friends or fiercest enemies would want to visit us”
  • “When you go home tell them your army stands guard at our Frozen Frontiers”
  • “If death strikes before I prove my blood, I swear I’ll kill Death”.

I promised myself I can’t stand at the border, but I can be a responsible citizen at the least.

The road journey ended at the perfect place “Khardung la” which is one of the highest motorable pass of the world 17,982 feet and what a perfect wording at its view point “BRO (Border Road Organization) welcomes you to the Top of the World Mighty Khardung La. Your adventure is our daily routine”.

It is hard for me to explain the experiences of this trip. One part of it was thrilling & fun, but the other part was the experience itself. The stories of struggles which families underwent during the partition documented at the museum in Amritsar, the noble service by the Sikhs at the Gurudwara, serving water and lemonade free of cost on the streets, the retreat (Flag down event is termed as “Retreat”) at the Wagah border, the history of Kargil and its heroes, the excitement standing at RD 0 at Turtuk, the respect for our armed forces, grief for the ones who lost their son / husband / father / brother / friend, witnessing the life of our jawaan who is serving our nation, the life of the laborer’s  who toil day in and day out to repair the roads in such harsh climatic conditions, the life of normal civilians who are struggling to make their living in such sensitive regions of India who are anytime subject to the bullet noise whenever there is ceasefire violations, the charisma of these valleys with its massiveness killing every inch of human ego, this total package made me a different person, a better individual. I am happier and more at peace than ever before, may be, somewhere I am entirely self-contented. If you are one among those who always wonder why people keep going back to this place, just visit the place once because I got my answer after being there, it is life changing, changes the perception of your life and the mother nature heals your soul. You don’t need a beer or whisky to be high on life, an adventure trip with an insight of the local culture would make you high naturally.

PS: In this article, I like to express my sincere gratitude to the Border Road Organization (BRO) for their stupendous and dedicated efforts without whom there would have never been any roads laid and maintained in the Leh-Ladakh valley for us to visit this paradise and the quotes inscribed across making our journey more joyful. A few which I remember are here:

  • “Don’t be a Gama in the land of Lama”
  • “Feel the curves, do not test them”
  • “Be Mr. Late than Late Mr.”
  • “Be gentle on my curves”
  • “After whisky, driving risky”
  • “Drive carefully, 90% of all people are caused by accidents”

Link to the video is given below:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ucrtFk_OsDDFBYjnXMRVA8SFViPkWl1O/view?usp=sharing



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