Mobile Web: The ‘Do Nothing’ option

From Q2 to Q3 2008, the number of Britons using mobile Internet increased by 25% (from 5.8 to 7.3 million) compared to 3% for PC-based Internet (34.3 to 35.3 million Britons) (Nielsen Online 24/11/08)

Just because the mobile web is booming, that’s not to say that every website needs a mobile version. In some cases it would be a spectacular waste of money to create a separate mobile version when the regular ‘desktop’ website will cater for mobile use just as well.

Before getting into the technicalities of handsets, mobile browsers, markup language and device detection, you need to first determine one key factor: Is anyone really likely to look at your website on their mobile phone?

What type of content are you offering?

Mobile phone users browse the internet in a different way to desktop web users. According to comScore, the fastest-growing categories for daily mobile web access in North America from 2008-2009 were:

• News & information (BBC, TFL, Flight information, weather, Wikipedia)
• Social Networking / Blogs (MySpace, Facebook)
• Stocks and financial information
• Movie information
• Business directories
• Entertainment (YouTube, Shazam, Flickr)

If your website does not fall into one of these categories, the chances are it won’t get much traffic from the mobile web audience.

What type of mobile web users are your audience?

According to Gartner, at the end of Q2 2008, Smartphones held about 11% of the mobile device market share Worldwode. If you already know that your audience are predominantly Smartphone users and your website is built in well-coded HTML with few images, then the browser on the Smartphone will display like a desktop browser and users can zoom in using touchscreen or QWERTY keyboard. This means that the ‘do nothing’ option might be an entirely viable one.

Will your website already render well on a mobile browser?

Every mobile handset is slightly different, but on most of the latest phones you can access the internet in one way or another. For desktop computers, websites might look and function differently on Firefox to Internet Explorer or Safari. Usually, well-written code will iron out these differences, but you may still notice a slightly different typeface, colour or positioning of elements depending on your browser. It’s exactly the same for mobile.

If the website is built in such a way that it will degrade sensibly on a small screen whilst still presenting the user with the relevant content, then it may not require a separate version. Ready.mobi will tell you whether or not your site passes the mobile test: The site will give you a free report and a ‘readiness for mobile’ score. It’ll also show you exactly how the site will look on some of the main mobile devices.

The quick answer

In summary, the ‘Do nothing’ option may be a good option if your website is either:

a) An unlikely type of content to be accessed via the mobile medium

b) Likely to be accessed by predominantly Smartphone users

c) Already rendering well on most handsets.

Watch out for the next Mobile Web blog where I’ll be talking in more detail about different options that are available for catering for the small screen.

Spring clean 2.0

New year, new start, new blog template. Not sure I like it truth be told, but it's feels much like it does to rearrange your bedroom. I might prefer sleeping against the wall, but I'll position the bed in the middle of the room just to feel a little bit more alive for about 30 seconds. So pink is out, crazy notepad in.

As part of the new digital me, I am now a daily twitterer and follower of knowledgable digital gurus. Well, sort of. My main impetus admittedly was the opportunity to stalk Stephen Fry who has possibly the best life on this planet. Apart from the obvious manicness but even that adds interest. The man must never get bored. And when he does he just hops onhis private jet to chase armadillos or has a drunken debate with his old pal Hugh. And now I get to be a part of that every day. Hence why twitter is great.

My only slight grumble I have with Twitter is not that it's addictive, because I haven't reached that stage of neediness yet. It's that it's almost too much - too much pressure to be interesting, and too many tweets to keep up with. Aren't our lives fast-paced enough without having to constantly follow hundreds of people around the virtual planet? Finally I feel like I understand how Jack Bauer feels.

Facebook banner ads a waste of money?

I joined Gyro International more than 6 months ago now, which puts me (still in the digital sense) into the advertising and marketing sector.

So, to stick to the theme I thought I'd write my first blog in a very long time on the pros and cons of banner advertising using social media platforms. I'm a regular user of facebook and I rarely even notice the advertising that is displayed there, but then I'm just one user out of 130million.

Looking at just banner advertising on facebook (not 'fan' pages which is another subject altogether), there are some obvious pro's and con's:

Positives

• Increased brand awareness
• Audience targeting / segmentation by age, sex, likes, dislikes, geographical location etc
• 130 million active facebook users

Negatives

• Difficult to measure ROI (especially when it comes to brand awareness)
• Banner ads are not conversational
• Weak track record
  

Banner ads are enforced, not requested, whereas social networks are about conversations and personal preferences. Therefore perhaps Facebook is not really an appropriate medium for this type of advertising. I've struggled to find a solid Facebook advertising success story that uses solely the cpc advertising as oppose to other more pricey options like the sponsorship of applications. It almost feels as though Facebook knows that they're onto a losing revenue stream as the latest 'voting' strategy seems to me like they are clutching at straws.

I like the theory: using Facebook you can advertise painkillers to students in the UK aged 20-25 on saturday/sunday mornings. How can it fail? Yet where are the results? And why isn't everyone raving about it online?

2009 is the year for brand engagement with social media. But this won't come about through simple display ads. What's needed is an approach that sees brands listening and responding to what is being said on blogs and social networks. A good design and a wad of cash just won't cut it any more.

Mr. Goldstein of SocialMedia Networks describes a self-perpetuating cycle in social networks: “Advertisers distract users; users ignore advertisers; advertisers distract better; users ignore better.”

I'm inclined to agree.

Mobile 'Terminator' Phone - the next big thing

In a few years time we'll all be browsing the internet on a regular basis on our mobile phones and millions of people in emerging markets will be surfing the net for the first time through their mobile handsets.

At the rate we're going, there will be 5 billion people 'connected' by 2015.

All this I can believe. However, the notion of Augmented Reality was, I thought until recently, confined to the movies for some time yet.

Augmented Reality I think of as being 'Terminator' vision. When Arnie looks at someone, he gets all their vital stats, history, address, name etc. And that is exactly the future of mobile phone technology.

We can already get GPS on our phones, so surely it's just simple sums:

GPS + WWW = Terminator vision (Augmented Reality).

Can't wait!

Recruitment and the human factor

Finding the right job in London is like walking along a really long tightrope. Whilst juggling. Thankfully there are agencies to offer support and guidance along the way. Whatever their reasons for helping, it works for me.

For employers, finding the right candidate for a position generally comes at a hefty price. So you can understand why companies are looking to use latest technologies to cut out the middle man. Last year recruitment accounted for a quarter of all online advertising, and brands continue to experiment with new technologies to gain direct access to potential candidates.

Last year a virtual recruitment fair was held on Second Life which was hailed as a success by the companies participating. Blogging has become quite important in attracting candidates, as have PPC campaigns and (some would say) Social Networking sites like Facebook and MySpace. 

I tried using Facebook to search for jobs and I found it confusing and unprofessional. However it's not a bad place for recruiters to advertise, as ads can be targeted towards the right candidate profiles. Having said that, most people I've asked aren't even aware of any advertising on facebook - a phenomenon known as 'banner blindness'. An innovative approach to advertising is needed for this kind of advertising to pay.

From my perspective recruitment agencies are in no danger of being ousted for now. They provide a valuable service to people like me, and it's in their interest to get it right for all parties. They connect the right people to the right jobs and it seems to work. 

It's certainly the right thing to do for companies to divert their ad spend from offline to online. And there is a great deal of untapped potential for recruiting using new media methods. But the loss of recruitment agencies would mean a loss of the human factor, and isn't that what the recruitment industry is all about?

Video CV's - a novel approach, but not always the right one.

Simply semantics

In my quest to appear knowledgable in interviews I've been trying to stretch my geekness as far as it will go. My latest quest is to understand the semantic web and what it means to the future of the web. Here are some of the definitions that I have found:

1. Semantic web - 'the meaning of the web'. Huh?

2. Semantic web - 'an extension of the web'. Ok. Still not understanding.

3. Semantic web - 'a way of sharing data and content'. Right, similar to mashups or something, yes? Well, sort of. Not quite. Mashups use web applications to pull in data from different sources and present it in a single form, making potentially dozens of Web calls (for example: www.flickrvision.com).

On the other hand, the Semantic web is a web of data. It needs no application and makes no web calls. The data is the web and the web is the data. It doesn't use javascript or HTML, it uses a different language altogether. Semantic web is potentially the most powerful and efficient way of distributing data and content.

It uses a language called RDF (Resource Description Framework), which is apparently even difficult for developers to understand. RDF was designed to provide a common way to describe information so it can be read and understood by computer applications. Go any deeper and you start getting into terminology that sounds like something out of Harry Potter so I'm going to stop there.

In my research I also stumbled across SWOOGLE, a semantic search engine. This actually left me more confused than I was before, and more convinced that this technology is not for the likes of me to concern myself with for the time being at least.

The semantic web is a work in progress and has the potential to transform the web into one giant, immensely powerful database.

Keep up the good work, Superbrains - rather you than me.

How do you win online?

How people use the internet is changing every day. Users are becoming blind to banner advertising and tend to tend to engage more with interactive ads or games.

Right now silver surfers are the fastest growing online population, although they tend to use the internet to stay in touch with family rather than shop online. Men use mobile internet more than women and nearly all of all internet users in europe read the news online.

However tomorrow's metrics may well tell a different story.

How then to digital marketing agencies know what's best for their clients? Perhaps the truth is that they don't, which is exactly what makes the industry such an exciting one to be a part of. Marketing and advertising agencies cannot rely on tried and tested methods any more - instead, they are much more likely to go for an integrated and innovative approach if they want to succeed. Take a look at Pot Noodle's latest effort as a good example.

Writing for the web? Suppress your ego!

I spent today at an excellent course ran by the Neilson Norman Group, the web usability experts. Before the course I believed that I wasn't half bad at web copywriting. I don't use UPPER CASE, I don't centre align, I put keywords in bold (sometimes) and I never put a hyperlink from click here (as oppose to meaningful text).

Not that simple.

There are principles to writing content for the web, the most important of which is this:

Keep it short.

Why? Because people don't read the text on websites the same way that they'd read a book or a newspaper. They scan it. Research proves it. People visit websites for the purposes of research, not entertainment. So make it easy for them to find what they want. How?

Short paragraphs, short sentences and short words.

If you're a website owner, here's what to do to make a start today:

1. Get the metrics - find out the most visited page on your website (ask your web agency if you're not sure).

2. Reduce the number of words on that page by 50% - bullet points or a table might help you get your message across more succinctly.

3. Split the content into short 'chunks' with meaningful headings.

Writing for the web is not a chance to show off. It's not about big words, cheeky headlines and artistic licence. Like all things to do with website usability, it is about the audience and giving them what they are looking for. Get that right and you'll find that you've probably ticked a fair few the SEO and accessibility boxes as well.

Trademark bidding - not so bad after all

I've been reading about the recent change in Google's trademark bidding strategy and it made me wonder. Will this change in the rules only affect people who have trademarked a search term, or will it push prices up across the board? In 1 months time, people will be able to start bidding against each other for trademarked keywords. For instance, coca-cola may start bidding for 'pepsi'. In fact, every man and his dog might start bidding for Pepsi, pointless as that may be.

One way of looking at it is that Coca-cola would be essentially burning money by advertising using this method. This is because people searching for Pepsi WANT Pepsi, so all Coca-cola has managed to do is frustrate the customer. On the other hand, the customer might click on the link and realise that Coca-cola has a special offer on, so they'll buy Coca-cola in future. In that case, was it worth it for coca-cola to pay £20 for pinching that 1 Pepsi customer? Added to that is the power of Pepsi being number 1 in the natural listings anyway.

And what about other Big Brands? Adidas could put a bid in for the keyword 'Nike', so that when people search for Nike trainers, up comes an advert for Adidas trainers. Hang on - that already happens. Why? Because Nike haven't 'trademarked' their brandname with Google. There wouldn't be any point because Nike allows its resellers to sell their brand over the internet, probably together with other sports brands.

And what about the resellers - are they likely to suffer? Lets take The Biz - they're selling a wide variety of surf brand clothing, and they might decide to bid on the keyword 'billabong t-shirts'. My first reaction to that would be MORE FOOL THEM. Even before Google changes it's rules, they'll be paying a fortune for such a vague keyword with very low conversions.

However, if they were to bid on 'mens red billabong t-shirt' (with a phrase or exact match), it's unlikely that Quicksilver will be bidding against that for a keyword so in that scenario, trademark bidding isn't going to make much difference to The Biz's Adwords spend. On top of that, if they take the searcher directly to a targeted landing page, the likelyhood of converting that click to a sale shoots up.

So the answer is this: As long as you're doing it right, Google's introduction of trademark bidding won't affect your adwords spend. We have just finished developing a product that ensures you do it right and takes the soul-destruction out of keyword targeting so that you can create specific keyword ad campaigns for every single one of your ecommerce products (whether you have 100 or 1 million products) that take people directly to a targeted landing page. In the click of a mouse. No laborious filling in of 200,000 fields required.

India - the good, the bad and the ugly

This is my last post in India, and I wanted to write about the things I've noticed and learnt along the way, although there is so much that I'm sure I'll miss something:

1. Indian men are often sen walking hand in hand and arm in arm - in fact they are not gay (apparently), it is just the way. Homosexuality is actually illegal in this Country although Mumbai is leading the fight against this law.
2. A country of contradictions - Indian people are known to brush their teeth for 20 minutes or more. They are actually incredibly hygienic in the way they eat and share food and drink, never touching the mouth of a bottle with their lips. However the streets are their landfills, and the rivers their sewers and many people have luminous orange teeth.
3. In some regions of India, widows are complete outcasts of society. It used to be that they were burnt to death and some say that this still happens although it is rare.
4. If you are born into a low Hindu caste, and you get sick, you might refuse treatment and put your life in fate's (or the gods) hands. I learnt this from a Spanish girl who was working for MSF in the Bihar region after the floods this year.
5. In Delhi (and elsewhere), people tap into the electricity grid illegally, and if you walk the streets with your eyes to the sky you'll see knots and tangles of wires pulled in through people's windows.
6. Speaking of electrics - why are there SO many switches everywhere? Every room I've entered has a minimum of 6 switches, although only 1 light and 1 fan.
7. People advertise their children in the local papers (in Delhi) for arranged marriages. Similar to a lonely hearts column.
8. Indian salesmen are the best in the world.
9. A camel costs from 10000-20000 rupees (GBP 130 - 250)
10. During Diwali, thousands of Owls are sacrificed - tortured, mutilated and bled to death as a sacrifice to bring wealth and fortune.
11. As urban growth accelerates, so do pollution levels. For the past 15 years the Indian Government has been procrastinating about introducing a high capacity bus system that allows buses to run in dedicated lanes where no other vehicles can enter. It is cheap as it doesn't require new road space to be constructed. This has been proven to work in South America and other countries, yet still hasn't been introduced anywhere here yet. At times in these cities you can barely breathe or see past the smog, and no-one seems to care to do anything about it.
12. The poverty. I was naive and stupid to think that it wasn't that bad. I thought that, although India is a developing country, the economy was catching up rapidly with the west. Now I'm not convinced. I can understand why global warming is not high up on the agenda when the majority of people are just surviving on 100 rupees a day. Last night I walked back at night, past the men sleeping in their taxis, or on the pavement amongst the giant rats and stench of urine. If I hadn't looked down I may have stood on the small 2 or 3 year old, wearing nothing but a vest curled up asleep on the road. I wanted to take him home but then what about the other children, mothers and babies? There doesn't seem to be a refuge for them. I can buy a big bag of rice that will last a boy 4 months, and maybe some milk so that a mother can feed her baby, but then what? And what about the others? At first it was a challenge, and then there was pity and frustration, and then a certain numbness to it all. And now I feel tired and very sad.
    

Although I feel relieved to be leaving in a way, I also feel a horrible guilt to be turning my back on these people. Ghandi would be disappointed in me. Maybe I should take a leaf out of his book and give up my material life and devote myself to the poor. But I know I'm not going to. I'll go straight back to my nice flat, with my nice clothes and expensive food and moan about the weather in England.

I think I understand this country less now than I did before I arrived. It's such a massive, unique blend of history, culture, character and religion and to get to the heart of it would take a lifetime. One thing I do know for sure is that I will definitely be coming back - Bollywood beckons.

Do you want to be a Bollystar?

Quick recap - Sam and I travelled from Delhi to Goa last week, visited a few sunny beaches, explored the capital, Panjim, and then headed to Mumbai for our last few days. There's not much to tell when it comes to Goa - perhaps it's because I'm from Jersey and have been spoilt with beautiful beaches my whole life. The difference in Goa is that there are more beach huts, stoned hippies (debatable), palm trees, and people selling fresh pineapple. Also, the sunset seems to be bigger and more red. In Goa I felt like I was cheating slightly, and had actually left India - although it's the same continent it really does feel like a different country.

Enough about Goa, Mumbai is much more interesting. The home of Bollywood and the Gateway to India. Bollywood. Sam and I both were offered the opportunity to be Bollystars for the day - 13 hours on set for a massive 500 rupees (GBP 6). Miles away, beyond the shanty villages, are the Bollywood studios. Apparently much of the filming is carried out in western Europe, and when the budget is tight, they relocate the sets to the North Mumbai studios. Because the majority of the films are shot in western Europe, they require western actors to fill in the studio sets to retain the balance. It seems so odd to me but it's the way it works. Apparently light skin is a hit - there are even skin-lightening creams advertised on tv (for men and women).

Back to Bollywood - originally we were excited, but that wore off after 5 hours of sitting around, being told conflicting information, and being dressed up like stupid dolls. Fortunately I got away with it and it was only Sam who had to act (actually ACT!), as the maid. I watched the filming and the shouting and the chaos unfold, relieved to be allowed to sit and read my book whilst poor Sam suffered. Finally it ended at about 10pm with Sam on the verge of tears after being bullied and misled for most of the day.

This morning I was accosted by two more scouts asking me to be an extra in Bollywood. But thankfully I fly out tonight.

Do you like spinach?

After Jaipur, we caught another bus to Pushkar, where we had heard they were holding their annual camel fair. We arrived at the hotel Sony had recommended us which was hidden in the backsteets of the town. On arrival we were held up by the manager for a long time on the roof, as he explained to us the sights of Pushkar. We soon found out that he was trying to stall us whilst tapping into the electricity line, so that we wouldn't find out about the lack of power. It didn't matter, we stayed as it was clean and cheap enough.

Pushkar surround a holy water lake lined with Ghats - on finding the lake we were immediately accosted by some self-proclaimed priests who instructed us to wash our hands and face with the illuminous green water and pay stupid amounts of money for a string bracelet and our families safety! I have never felt so cheated and angry in my life.

However, we weren't there to find enlightenment and good karma, we were there for the camels. And they were incredible. For as far as the eye could see, camels and nomads with brightly coloured turbens were scattered across the dusty landscape. We stayed watching for hours and it has to be one of the highlights for me so far.

I have to show you a picture of a dinner we had in Pushkar - I asked the waiter what he recommended and his response was: 'Do you like spinach'? I said yes and went for the spinach and veg curry, whilst Sam went for the stuffed pepper. However, we both ended up with this:

The Indian sales technique

Just to let you know that I've finally managed to put a few pictures on and added some Taj Mahal pictures to the last post. It's been a crazy week and so much has happened. From Agra we caught a bus to Jaipur where we were driven high-speed around the city by Sony, our friendly auto-rickshaw driver. He took us to the Maharajah's palace which was amazingly beautiful, and after that he took us on a tour of his mates shops! This is where I learnt about Indian Salesmen, and why it is they're the best in the world:

1. Pay rickshaw driver commission for bringing the unsuspecting tourist to your shop.
2. Tell customer to take off their shoes when they enter - makes it feel special for them, and also makes them feel at home.
3. Drug customer with Chai.
4. Show customer how product is made.
5. Tell customer it is the only place in the country where you can find such quality.
6. Bring out every type of product you have and put it in front of the customer. This takes time, and customer feels bad that you have gone to such trouble.
7. Emphasize quality, beauty, and uniqueness.
8. Be persistent and don't let them walk out of the door until they have seen everything there is to see, heard everything there is to hear, and spent everything there is to spend.

Dirt, Smog and the Taj Mahal

This will be a short post as I'm feeling very tired and smogged out today. I now have a travelling companion, Sam, although in her short time in India she has already been suffering from a nasty sick bug which kept her head in the toilet for the majority of last night. We spent the day on a very crowded (by which I mean that half the passengers were travelling on the roof) bus from Agra to Jaipur where we've got lucky with a nice hotel near the centre.

Yesterday we were in stinky Agra for the day and visited the Taj Mahal and the Red Fort. Unbelievably foreigners get charged 75 times that of Indian residents to get in but it was worth it nevertheless. The Taj is actually a tomb - Shah Jahan had it built for his wife when she died giving birth to her 14th (or maybe 12th) child!

I'm afraid there are to pictures to post yet (although I took about 100), as I haven't got the right cable, so I'll keep this a short and dull entry. Rajestan is a tiring place but hopefully tomorrow I'll wake up with a new lease of life and some much-needed assertiveness...

28 years old and scared of the dark

I arrived back in Delhi this morning at 4am after having just had my first Indian adventure - one that I doubt I'll ever forget. I went to Rishikesh on the advice of my friend Katy. Unfortunately I didn't follow her guidance on how to get there and had one of the worst travelling experiences of my life. Clare's driver, Sunil, dropped me off a Delhi's central bus station in the morning a few days ago - on the way in the middle of 5 lanes of traffic, was an elephant meandering along the road. I've decided it was an omen.


At the bus terminal I was immediately followed by a number of men through the station and there wasn't another traveller in sight. I can't begin to explain what the station is like - suffice to say I was eager to leave after about 30 seconds. A man approached me and told me there was a 'deluxe' tourist bus (lie number 1) to Rishikesh (lie number 2) which took 6 hours (lie number 3). The bus was full of Indian people and there was one seat available right at the back in the middle of the aisle. Before I knew what was going on my bag was on the bus, and I was on my way.

We drove for a few hours slowly as the traffic was bad due to Divali on the weekend. More people got on and stood in the middle of the bus. I was glad they were there because they blocked my view out the front window of the bus. A man on the bus asked me if I was searching for my spiritual guru in Rishikesh. When I said no he looked at me like I was the devil and didn't speak to me again for the rest of the journey.

By the time we get to our final destination (not Rishikesh) it was dark. Everyone was turfed out onto the street which I later found out was just on the outskirts of Haridwar, 25km from Rishikesh. After a few more Rickshaw journeys, and being thrown out onto the street in various random places, I arrived in Rishikesh. I was dropped at the top of a hill and the driver gestured ahead into the darkness. I walked down a long windy road in the pitch black, found the bridge which Katy had told me about and, on the verge of tears at this point, I found a hotel.

The next two days were completely magical days. I met some wonderful people, did lots of yoga classes, walked along the River Ganges and witnessed the Divali festival. You have to dodge the street fireworks but the atmosphere is electric.

I have decided that it's been a good thing to have such a bad introduction to travelling in India alone, because every day since has been a wonderful surprise. I now feel completely energised, and although I didn't find my spiritual guru, I did find a strength I didn't know I had and a respect for the Hindi people who can be so kind and generous, and can party harder than I thought was possible in the absence of alcohol. Speaking of which - Andy's left me a beer in the fridge - time to go.

Delhi - magic and mayhem

I don't think anyone can prepare you for the sights, sounds and smells of Delhi. I'd spoken to a few of my hardened traveller friends about what to expect, but this place goes beyond anything that my imagination could handle. Yesterday I arrived in the morning and was picked up by Sunil, my good friend Clare's driver. He was expecting to pick up two people - 'Gilly' and 'Challinor' - so it took a short while to persuade him that I was travelling alone. He kindly reminded me that I was not allowed to sit in the front seat and drove me to Clare and Andy's beautiful apartment in Sector 15, Noida, on the outskirts of Delhi.

The smog, dust and mass of contruction work going on is astounding. I have never been a place so polluted as this. And I now know why my friends have a driver because there is a very particular style of driving in India that would astound even an experienced Italian driver. The road markings are completely futile, and the car horn takes the place of indicators. Apparently there are 1000 more cars on the road every day in Delhi - it's a wonder the traffic moves at all.

Yesterday afternoon I tried to brave the streets of Delhi - my mission was to go into the centre and buy some mosquito repellant. I didn't get far. Delhi is so spread out so I knew the only way was to get a motor rickshaw. But after spending 15 minutes trying to cross the road, and another 15 trying to stop a rickshaw, I gave up. How pathetic!

Today was much more successful - mostly because Clare took the day off to show me around. We went to a mesmerising Sikh Temple, wondered around the streets and markets of Old Delhi, and got escorted out of the biggest mosque in Delhi. It was because I was filming in the courtyard and hadn't paid for the privelage. I'm learning.

I have approximately 43 mosquito bites, and a very sweaty back, but I'm feeling much more relaxed and happy than yesterday, mostly thanks to Clare and Andy. Tomorrow I'm braving it alone. Although I'm beginning to think that you're never alone in India.