Update

 Hello there...

Still hanging on...

Just opened and did some activity, so that I dont loose access to my account...

Update

 Hello there... Its been a long long time... I was busy doing something else and I could not find time to write.

Anway here are the updates - on two things that I mostly talk about

Civil Service Preparations

I did not clear the civil services.

I attempted all the 6 times. Cleared prelims 5 times. Did not clear once

In the 5 Mains that I wrote, I did not clear even once. Although I came close to cutoff in 2015. I missed the OC cutoff by some 10-20 marks.

I did not clear the state groups exams

I gave both the Group I & Group II exams once each. I did not clear either of them.

Reasons why I did not clear: Well, only one reason. I did not prepare well.

I only blame myself and not on any situations - like Pub Adm paper was tough while Anthro was easy... or that I prepared well, but luck was not on my side. The reason I did not clear is simply I did not do enough for this exam. 

I only regret not giving my 100%. I do not regret trying for civils leaving a decent job in MNC back in 2012. Anyway, after trying few other things like

• writing answers to questions asked  by school children and get paid for the answers
• preparing prelims question papers for one of the IAS institutes 
• In the institute that I worked, for 1 prelims question with options, explanations of answer, sources - we get around 10 rupees. 
• I heard someone say that Vision IAS pays upto 100 rupees for a single prelims question and 3000 rupees per hour for teaching geography (or) pub adm to students.

• giving demo classes to future aspirants and to become Pub Adm faculty in some other IAS institute

Nothing worked out... So, I am back to a job in IT. Have to start from scratch again.

So, there's that. Pursuing a career in administration is over for me.

Football

Well, there's lot to talk.

Man, what a unbelievable season we had last year.

We won the CL against all odds, beating favourites like PSG, Chelsea, Manchester City & Liverpool. And memorable comebacks too.. We completed the double by winning La liga, although barca was weakened by Messi's departure.

Future looks promising, because we have talented players like Vini, Rodrygo, Valverde, Tchouameni, Cammavinga.

And this is world cup year. I would like Portugal to win it for Ronaldo... but I know its difficult.

Final Thoughts

While, career in administration is over me, I still like to read news, stay up to date on current affairs, follow whats happening around the world. So, I will try to write my perspectives on the things that are happening around the world.

And I will also write little bit about these last years - as to what happened in general & stuff.

Mains from Sep 28th

Hello there....


I think its my 1st or 2nd post this year...

Civils & later

I cleared prelims.... this is my 6th & final attempt in cracking civils... this time I joined test series prog... few friends highlighted the importance of answer writing... so, I joined some institute for Mains test series... lets see how it goes...

I havent really planned as to what I would do once this Mains is over... should I prepare for state groups, should I join some job (teaching side, IT side), I dont know... IT side pays well, but it would be difficult (especially after 7yrs of gap preparing for civils); Parents pressure mounting on me to secure a job and get married immediately... well, cant blame them really, they have supported me till now, and its only normal to see Indian parents wanting to get their son married at the right age (actually, I am little north of right age to get married) :P


Coming to football

World Cup
a) I wished Modric lifted the trophy... anyway, Congrats to Croatia for reaching final for the first time in their history... Modric rightly won player of the tournament...
b) Still no world cup for either Messi or Ronaldo... for Ronaldo, its almost over... well, at least he has Euro 2016... Messi - I aint sure if he continues with Argentina... they have Copa America next year in 2019... so he has another shot at national trophy... lets see how it goes...

What makes one happy

Hello all...

This is my second post in this year... last year 2016 I had just one entry... so I decided I will write at least one more post... hehehe... so, lets see, whats to talk about... you know, lately I've been thinking about something... What makes one happy.

a) Cristiano works so hard day in day out, he's achieved so much, but he is always booed at away stadiums; Messi too, genius footballer, arguably worlds greatest football player ever, but he is jeered by his own Argentine fans for not bringing international trophy... plus it kind of haunts Messi himself that his Argentine trophy cabinet is empty
b) Its not just footballers - filmstars, businessmen, politicians - every person in every other profession has some problem... well not exactly the same kind of problems that common people face like money needs, buying house, looking for job that pays well, daily commutaion to offices in buses, pollution... Many times we may not understand those problems, but believe me, even they face problems... All that glitter, fame, money will not give them happiness

I think the core of the problem is because we are doing stuff for others and not doing what we love... well, sometimes what we love doing may not pay us enough to lead a decent life, but you get what I am saying... Its always our desire, need, pressure to do well, perform better than others - that causes problems for us... we unknowingly fell into this rat race...

Update

Hello all

So, I've been really really busy... I cant find time to write anything... But I hope I can make some free time and write something

Anyway, things as usual...

Transfer dealings

a) Real signed Theo, Marcos Llorente (I dont remember us signing anyone in attacking half... but we sold Morata, James)

b) actually I was sad to see Morata leave, but with Zidane preferring Benzema in big matches and world cup coming next year, Morata needs assured game time and its understandable he left... too bad his return to Madrid didnt go as expected...

c) then, James departure was expected, there was a slight problem with his attitude... he publicly expressed his displeasure when substituted, his comments during Club WC (in Japan?) when team's celebrating havent gone well with hierarchy... plus, relationship between zidane and player broke off... anyway he left for Bayern at very low price compared to his value... It seems Bayern & Real enjoy good relations in transfer dealings... we got kroos cheaply, they got alonso... now james too at just 35M euros

d) Then, Pepe left (he asked for 2yr contract, even okay with reduced game time, but we only promised 1yr contract), we got back our academy player Jesus Vallejo... I've read that he is very good defender, but he is slightly injury prone... but Nacho is always reliable... with Ramos, Varane, Marcelo our defence is strong...


Super Copa Espana

a) What a resounding victory over our bitter rivals... I've been following football regularly since 2011.. here & there we may have dominated Barca in short spells across a match, but this is the first time I am seeing Real completely dominating Barcelona in both legs

Update

Hello there...

It's four months into the year and only now I found the time to write a post. As usual we will talk about football and my civil services preparation...

So, the mains result was out in February and I didn't clear this time too. I am eagerly waiting for my marks, which are expected in June, to see what went wrong. There is some pressure from my parents to take up some job because they want me to get married soon. But my desire to clear the exam is still intact and I haven't given up on civil services. I want to give another attempt as of now. Two things I plan to do differently this year are

1) I couldn't complete the entire syllabus of public administration even after three attempts and this time I wanted to be thorough with my optional. So, I am reading more hours per day compared to the previous years.
2) Most questions asked in the exam felt familiar and I that I had read those topics sometime, but in the exam I couldn't recollect, so i realised revision of topics is vital. Hence, I plan to revise every topic regularly. Plus I heard some ranker saying that revision is what separates toppers from others.

Let's see how my fourth attempt goes. Now coming to football. We are seven points behind Barcelona in the league with seven matches left to play, so it seems like the league is a lost cause. At least we won the clasico at camp nou and avoided the humiliation of double. We were eliminated from Copa after fielding an ineligible player. So the CL is the only trophy left to fight for this year. But our team put an awful performance against Wolfsburg, and now we need to win the return leg with at least 2 goals margin. Hope our boys realise what it means to be a Madrid player and win the tie and go on to win the competition. We can't have two back to back trophy less seasons while Barcelona continue to win trebles.

Benitez was sacked after poor results, but I won't blame him for that. As a manager he is talented, we know that as he won the league with Valencia and won CL with Liverpool. But apart from tactics and other stuff, a manager is also expected to keep his team motivated and listening to him. Now this is where I think he failed to handle the big egos in the dressing room. Succumbing to pressure from the board, media and others, he didn't select casemiro and opted for James in the first Clasico and our midfiled was exposed. We lost 0-4, utter humiliation. Plus, there was no clarity on our starting eleven. He wanted to rotate the players to keep them fit and to give chances to everyone, but that only turned players against him. Contrast this with zidane, after our Derby loss to atletico at home, he didn't start with James because it was known by then that we need a defensive midfileder and casemiro became a regular starter. He proved invaluable in 1-2 away victory over Barcelona. Benitez couldn't do this and he was sacked. I feel sorry for him, but he is a true Madridista. He was emotional when he was appointed as the manager; he is the first Madrid player to be appointed as manager in more than a decade; he said few bad things about the president and players after his dismissal, but it must be said that he was largely silent about the unfair treatment and the constant targeting by the press meted out to him. I believe he didn't have the freedom in team selection and some players underperformed during his time. Cristiano was unhappy with benitez, because of the latter's tactics which gave importance to Bale. Ramos was angry after Benitez criticised him, when he fouled an atletico player in the box and conceded a needles penalty. Now these are some things where benitez can improve in his man-management skills. You have to treat stars differently and not like other players.

Zidane is our manager now and the first one in nine years to win his debut El Clasico in 9 years. Plus our results at home have been promising, we are winning matches and playing good football. Everyone in the dressing room respects him. Away results are not all positive, but recently we won at Camp Nou, so we can improve. It would be nice if we win CL this season considering we have nothing to fight for. Plus, even if we don't win, the president should stick with zidane. He needs time to get the team to play according to his tactics, he needs time to sign the players he wants. Anyway, let's see what happens...

There is some problem with my laptop. Over these last four years, I have used it - for my preparation, for watching movies, for playing FIFA... some sort of attachment developed with my laptop, but now, it's not alright. There is some charging port issue and it takes around 20k to get it repaired. I am so sad...

Anyway Adios...

Update - Dec 2015

Hello there...

I am sorry, I couldn't write regularly. I couldn't find time to post anything.

The good news is that I've qualified Prelims; the result was out around 2 months back and one other friend of mine cleared prelims. This year, CSAT was made qualifying paper, that means, the marks in that paper wouldn't be counted. It obviously put us, engineering students who are good at Maths like me, at a disadvantage; but I managed to clear. According to key released by some coaching institute, I got 106 marks. Mains starts from 18th this month. I am optimistic that I'll clear Mains this time. Let's see how that goes.

As I told earlier, I got Auditor post in CAG in SSC-CGL 2014, but I will not take the job. I am willing to give civils one more year of preparation.

Now, in football, I haven't been watching the game regularly like earlier. But I am aware of what's happening. The most talking point in our la liga campaign this year was the humiliating home defeat to our fiercest rivals FC Barcelona. I was really disappointed with the way we played that match. Messi didn't even start the match, he was a substitute on the bench, but by the time he entered the field in 2nd half, the match was pretty much over. I don't know what Benitez is doing. Last year, Barca won the treble and we finished trophyless. Another trophy-less season is not acceptable at any cost. And the worst part is we were eliminated from Copa after we fielded an ineligible player. So, we must focus on La Liga & Champions League. Hope our team comes back form very soon and fight for the titles.

Well, I am busy preparing and I may not find time to be more frequent, but I will try to post every now and then. Till then, adios... Live Long and Prosper.

Update - Aug 2015

Hello there...

It's been very long since I posted anything. I was busy & couldn't find time.

Prelims exam was over on Aug 23rd. The paper was easy, but I don't know how I did. As usual, I'll not check the key. I am not sure if I'll qualify or not. Various websites & forums predicted the cut-off to be around 105. Never have I got that kind of score in various mock tests that I've written. So, naturally I am a little worried. Anyway, we all have to wait for the results & continue preparing for the Mains.

I've given SSC CGL 2014. I was called for interview, but my score isn't that great that I'll land an interview post. Probably, I'll get auditor in CAG. Final results are expected by October.

Coming to football, we parted ways with Ancelotti and appointed new manager Rafa Benitez. I am so sad to see Ancelotti go, the man who got us 'La Decima'. Let's see how this new season under Benitez goes. We already dropped two points playing away to newly promoted team Sporting Gijon.

Bye for now...

Waiting for Mains Results

Hello everybody,

CS Mains Results are expected next month and I am eagerly waiting for it. Somehow, I managed to clear Prelims, and I am happy about it.

Then, my preparation is slow. I am not that concerned about it though. I have joined MA Public Administration in IGNOU distance learning this January and we have end exams this December. So, I am preparing for Public Administration right now. But let me remind you, this is just for a Masters degree and not an alternative. For that matter, I gave SSC CGL 2014 Tier I exam this 19th October, but it is just for knowing where I stand. My target is to crack civils and land in Indian Administrative Service. May be not this year, but in some attempt, I will surely do that.

Then, I wanted to write about a lot of things, football related and in general too, but I couldn't find the time. One particular topic I wanted to write was about the identity crisis that I, in particular or this young generation, in general, face. What I mean, is we studied science from our childhood and live in 21st century. We tend to believe in those things that have rational and scientific basis. But on the other hand my parents, they didn't have that much scientific education in their childhood. They believe in Gods, auspicious days, astrology related things. This is not to say that I am an atheist or anyone who didn't receive scientific education would be superstitious. It's just that, I don't share as much enthusiasm as they show in certain things. I visit temples on occasion but not on regular basis. But my parents they visit them even during the most rushy days. They watch these 'Bhakti' programs. They plan the functions on auspicious days as decided by astrology.

The crisis, I am talking about, relates to what I do, whether I follow any of the rituals that I am supposed to follow or not. As we all enter manhood and move to the next stage of our life, we are expected to carry on our belief systems. I am expected to do things as my religion instructs. For example,

Marriage, then Housewarming ceremony, my offsprings, the naming ceremony and so on... Now, if I don't believe as strongly as my parents do in rituals, can I be trusted to do them whole heartedly... or do I just do them for my spouse, parents, relatives & society?? Anyway, this is some thought plaguing my mind for some time, because there were a series of functions that took place in our household recently..

Some few days back PM Modi & others at 102nd Indian Science Congress, talked of science in Ancient India. Modi mentioned the Karna & Lord Ganesha story, claiming Indians knew something about genetic science & plastic surgery even in those days. Then some speakers spoke of aviation science in India in ancient times. I feel this is wrong.

Anyway, coming to football, yesterday, I saw the derby match. We lost 4-0. Loosing is one thing, it is difficult to beat a team like Atleti, so the anger is not at the defeat, but the manner in which we lost. Nobody played with heart. Shameful performance, but I believe in our team. Hope, we become serious from now and win every match.

The books I've read are 'Sanjaya Baru - The Accidental Prime Minister'. I started reading Barca - The making of the greatest team - by Graham Hunter. But, I felt that the book was biased, so I stopped reading it. Instead, I started Sid Lowe - Fear & Loathing in La Liga. This book is amazing. But, I'll give this book a break, and start 'The Prize' - epic quest for oil, money & power by Daniel Yergin.

PS: Apologies. Because, I really couldn't find time to write. But, I'll write as often as possible.

Transfer Window & Prelims Exam

Hello everybody,

I told myself to be more regular in posting articles in the blog, but I couldn't find time. I really really couldn't find time. Anyway, I'll be brief in what I have to say.

Germany won the World Cup and I liked it. I saw the friendly between Germany & Argentina that was played today. Although, it was a friendly & Germany fielded its 2nd line of back four & Messi didn't play, the match was pretty interesting. Had Di Maria played in the WC 2014 final, I am sure things would've been a lot harder for Germany not that they were easy in any way before. We lost International Continents Cup and that is expected only, a lot of 1st team players didn't take part, then we didn't show any motivation to win after claiming La Decima, so it's understandable.

Coming to transfer window, we signed an excellent midfielder in Toni Kroos. Casillas is back after we let Diego Lopez go to AC Milan in a free transfer after paying out his full contract amount and then signed Keylor Navas. Although, Ancelotti didn't reveal who his first choice keeper would be, I guess it will be Casillas. But his poor performance vs Sociedad reignited the debate as to who should start in goal. We signed Golden boot winner of WC 2014 James Rodriguez and took Chicarito in loan as Benzema's deputy from Manchester United. On the flip side, I am really disappointed that we let Alonso leave. But Real has no option other than to let him go. It would be rude of us to make him see out contract; we should respect his wishes after all what he has done for the club. Di Maria was sacrificed for James Rodriguez and I am not happy about it either. He was clearly our 2nd best player of the season behind Ronaldo. On top of that, he wanted to stay and win more trophies. The team was setup nicely, but I guess that's the way things work in Madrid.

CSP 2014 Notification Out

Hello there...

I know, its long. I have been busy, I couldnt find time to write in the blog and I promise I'll try to be more regular. Many things happened in football since the last time I posted, but not much happened with my preparation. I'll talk about football first. I'll also be brief about everything, lest the post be too long.

Real Madrid were in contention for the liga till the 36th match day, but we blew it away. Even after the back to back losses against Barcelona & Sevilla, we knew we had the chance. But, we drew at home against Valencia, then dropped another two points away to lowly team Real Valladolid. Still, we could've won the league as both Barcelona & Atleti dropped points against Elche & Levante and these two contenders have to face one another in the last league match of the season. But we didn't field our full team against Celta and the eleven on the pitch didnt take the match seriously. So, we lost the match and effectively La Liga. Now Champions League has to be won. And, boy did we win it in style... First we had to beat Dortmund, then Bayern to reach the finals. In the two home encounters against the German top two in Bernabeu, we produced master class performance. Away to Dortmund, we suffered. Had it not been for Casillas splendid saves and silly misses by Mkhitaryan, I don't know what would have happened. Then away to Bayern, Sergio Ramos got his revenge against Neuer by scoring two headers as he was taunted by Neuer last time after his penalty miss in the shootout. Our CR7 scored two goals taking his tally to 16, there by beating Messi record of 14 goals in a single CL season. He went on to add another goal in the final. In the final against Atletico, Casillas made a silly mistake by coming forward, then not winning the ball and being caught in no man's land. Godin scored the second important goal for the week. His first goal away to Barcelona won them the league and this header past Casillas looked like it was all that was needed to win CL. But Ramos came to the rescue and scored a vital header in the 93rd minute to take the game into extra time where we comprehensively beat the tired Atletico players. All in all, it was a remarkable performance. Also, we won Copa del Ray against Barcelona, so this year it is double. May be next year treble, although I am doubtful of the players' performances, injury worries as they play the World Cup in torrid conditions of Brazil and come back fatigued this August.

CS Mains 2013 Results Out

Okay... the results were out and I didn't qualify. I took a week off from preparation and went to my friend's place in bangalore for chilling out, if you know what I mean...

Then, I do not feel like writing or posting anything now... so, I'll stay brief.

I finished reading Animal Farm by George Orwell. It's a small book, about 55 pages... Nice book, a satirical comedy on 1917 Russian Revolution. Then, Public Administration classes are going good. We almost completed Paper I. Then, Real Madrid top La Liga and next week we have El Classico. As Jose Mourinho once said, the world stops for this match. So true this time with liga title at stake. Atletico is also a contender, but it's once again Ronaldo & Bale vs. Messi & Neymar, although I highly doubt that Neymar will be in the starting line-up. Then, Bayern winning Bundesliga, Juve winning Scudetto, all expected. In England, any one of the top four teams can win Premier League now... Chelsea, Liverpool, Arsenal, Manchester City.

Next week, WCT20 starts and after that IPL starts. Then again in July, we have FIFA WC 2014. Oh My God... How do you guys expect me to study... Anyway... Later...

Update

Hello there...

Lately, I've been very busy and hence I didn't have time to post in my blog. Actually, I've read people saying that they are too busy to keep blogging often and I always found it to be a silly reason. But, I realised that they may have a case. Listen to my daily routine. I have swimming classes for 2hrs in the morning, then 2 hrs of Public Administration classes in the afternoon. That's it. Now, if a person like me who's engaged for only 4hrs can't find time to write something on the blog, I can see how most of the others don't have time for this.

Anyway, Public Administration classes are excellent, our Sir teaches Paper I very well. Then in the one month of swimming classes, I could only go for about 20 days. I now know how to swim, but I must practice breathing. You know, the act of lifting your head just above the water to inhale when you've just run out of your last breathe. I am planning to practice swimming at the pool itself where one can pay 80/- for one hour a day and swim there.

Joined Swimming Classes

Hello there...

Not much to tell. I've only 2hrs of Public Administration class daily. Rest of the time I read newspaper, browse internet and stuff like that. Not much useful stuff and a lot of time is being wasted daily. So, I decided to learn swimming. I've been going for the past 6 days and was told that it would take another 10 days for me to learn the basics of swimming. In the first few days, I struggled a lot to get into the water in this winter, but since then I've adjusted. Now, its going on smoothly.

I've finished the book Alex Ferguson's autobiography. I finished writing my review, but I am not sure if I should publish it. Then regarding preparation for GS Paper II, the less said the better. I know I've made plans but I am unable to keep up with it. But I learnt the lesson last time during Mains exams and hence promised myself that I would finish the syllabus within time and not regret later. I will not make the same mistake again and will try to stick to my plan this time.

Ballon d'Or 2013

Hellooo.... Happy New Year 2014 to all of you. I'll talk about Ballon d'Or and other things in this post. First, why Ronaldo deserves Ballon d'Or...

We all know that Ribery won the treble with Bayern Munich, but is Ribery the stand out performer in that team. Schweini, Lahm & Mueller too did well. In fact, Schweini won the Bundesliga player of the year and not Ribery. For me, Ribery is just one more guy in the team that won the treble. Yes, he performed better than most others in their team, but we must all acknowledge that Bayern's defence is far better than their attack. They conceded the fewest goals in 2013. They didn't concede a single goal in both legs of CL semifinal against the much famed Barcelona's attack. Understand it when I say that Bayern's defence deserves more praise than it's attack. So, in that sense, Lahm & Schweini contributed more than Ribery to Bayern's treble winning season. And, Ballon d'Or is an individual award and just because Bayern won three titles last year, doesn't mean that their best player must be the winner. Steven Gerrard didn't have a single league title, but he is best midfielder in England for the past decade. Even though, Ronaldo didn't win titles, it's not like his performances didn't matter. His team finished 2nd in La Liga, runner-up in Spanish Cup & reached the semis of CL. Last year, Bayern was better than Real Madrid as a team. But no player performed better than Ronaldo last year.

One week after Mains

Hello,

I came home, once the exams were over. Now, I am planning to get coaching for public administration again. Looking for some good institutes in that subject.

I gave the Mains exam and understood how it really feels to give an exam conducted by unpredictable service commission (other name of UPSC given to it by us aspirants). No one expected the GS papers to have 25 questions each with 10 marks. First, there were so many questions to answer and 3 hours is hardly enough to answer all of them. Second, even if one had the practice of writing answers so fast, he will not have any time to recollect, think & frame the answers. But one consolation is, it's same for everybody. Let's see how many marks we get. I do not have much hopes for this year Mains. I will start my Mains preparation in the next week. At any cost, I must clear CSE next year and get into some service.

Football - last week and the week before that, I didn't follow football because of exams. Now, I've come home, but we don't have any football channels subscribed and we don't have internet. But I just saw the news that our match against Osasuna ended in draw. We were 2 goals down within the first half, then Ramos was shown red card. Ancelotti said that out team showed spirit to draw the match from there. Meanwhile, Barca won the home match against Villarreal, extending their lead over Real to 5 points. Arsenal was defeated badly at Ethihad Stadium. World cup draw was made. Champions League draw was also made. We play Schalke, a relatively easy team, but the tough matches this time are Arsenal vs. Bayern & City vs. Barca. Then Ballon d'Or saga - Ronaldo or Messi or Ribery. So much happening in the world of football, well, European Football to be more precise and after following it so close for nearly one and a half year, I miss it. I guess, I will not be able to watch football matches as much as I used to watch till now.

Then, I am not reading any book for now. But, I am close to finishing the book India after Gandhi. And regarding civils, I think I know where my preparation went wrong. I'll speak with other students, know their approach to the exam and learn from them. Till then, Adios...

6 days to go

Okay, I am so busy that I haven't even thought of my blog till yesterday. Once I got reminded, I thought I'll just post whatever important happened since the last time.

• I was preparing seriously these past few days although I still don't have much hope for Mains.
• I was diagnosed with some viral fever and was severely sick for around 3-4 days. Thankfully, it's all over now well before the exams and I am back to being healthy.
• My institute opened a new building adjacent to the old one. Also, the fees this time is increased by 50% on General Studies and other optional subjects.
• I haven't watched a lot of football last weekend, but I've been following the general news, score updates and everything. I am sad that Ronaldo is injured. Hope he gets back quickly. 

Now, I must tell you, by looking at the sheer numbers of the new batch students in our institute, I am scared. My God, there are so many of them. Then, when you sit in a class, you know about your fellow students. So, you sort of know who listen to classes, who study seriously and who is a possible ranker. But I don't anything know anything about this new batch students. And all of them, their face, their appearance look like they are serious contenders. They were passing me through the hallway and every one is looking so intellectual, like thinking about some thing. You know, when you appear serious and deeply thoughtful, people tend to assume you are intelligent. May be that is what happened here, but still.

By the way, I've given test series in our academy. Because these are the last days, our institute could only correct GS Papers 1,2 and 3. They told us they couldn't get Ethics paper and Optional papers corrected. I got my corrected answer sheets, my faculty didn't give us marks but gave remarks to every answer on the side. I'll just write what was mentioned about mine.

• When asked about my handwriting, I was told it's okay, intelligible only. So, no problems there.
• My answers are too descriptive, very vague and generalized. I should try to be more specific and relevant to the question.
• Any answer contains basically 3,4 core points. It is must you mention them, highlight it in some form, so that examiner can notice them easily and not labour through the whole answer.
• And few more remarks that are particular to the question.

Then, what else. Yeah, I am so bored by studying so much these last few days, that I've started using Facebook again. That's right, the last time I opened my facebook account was way back in May 2011. I thought I need to get in touch with people, socialize a little and hence started using it again. I know it is just before the exams and may serve as distraction, but I am not spending that much time on facebook. Hardly 30 minutes a day.

Yup, that's pretty much it now. Later then...

24 days to go...

Okay, I got the admit card for CS Mains 2013 and the exam starts on 2nd Dec, 2013. That means just 3 more weeks to go.

To tell you the truth, I've been reading seriously. Yes, last week I said I wasn't serious enough, but since then, I am studying for most part of the day. Rest of the time sleeping, eating, watching little football and pretty much that's it. Anyway let's see how my first attempt goes.

Then, football. I didn't see the match against Rayo as I was in my home town that weekend for diwali. I managed to read more than half of the book The Insider's View during the visit home. Then I watched the match against Juventus. I also watched Dortmund vs. Arsenal match. Now this week, we have two important matches. Manchester United vs. Arsenal & Juventus vs. Napoli. Apart from these two I'll also watch Real Madrid and Real Sociedad match. I've watched almost all Real Madrid matches since last season. That would amount to 60 games. On adding Seria A and EPL matches, that I watch sometimes, I must have seen around 100 football matches. The thing is I am still not familiar with tactics, reading the game and analysing it. How do those commentators and reviewers write match reports, I don't know.

Then, as I mentioned, I've been reading both of these books The Insider's View and India after Gandhi parallelly. Nothing else to say. Later...

Football Week

So, this week is full of football action.

On Saturday, I watched Crystal Palace vs. Arsenal. Then I watched Ruhr Derby. This is the match between Schalke 04 and Dortmund. Then the biggest match of all, probably the biggest match of this La Liga season. The first El Classico. Yes, the biggest of all the club football rivalries. Then on Sunday, I watched Chelsea vs. City.

Nothing much to talk about Arsenal's match. They are still the league leaders for now but I doubt that they can win the title. For one thing, all other clubs have played big matches and dropped points, while Arsenal had just one North London derby and hence didn't loose many points. Two, Arsenal's bench is weak. Of course, Gnabry and co have been performing well in the main players' absence, but I still doubt they can win, this consistently at the business end of the season. May be if they are still at the top of table during winter's break, Wenger may buy a striker. We will see.Then Dortmund's match. They lost Gotze, but found good replacement in Henry Mkhitaryan. They also bought Aubameyang who plays as a wide midfielder. Even though, Dortmund is on the list of teams that I've decided to watch this season, this is only the first full match that I've seen them play. I don't know much about their possession style play, but their counter attacking is deadly. Their third goal is a testament to that. It is not wrong to I say that Dortmund is the 2nd best counter attacking team in last three seasons after Real. Now that we are having more possession and playing most of the game in opponent's half, Dortmund may become best counter attacking team.

Last two weeks

Two weeks back, I mentioned my GS Paper III preparation plan. But I am very sorry to say that I have not followed the very plan that I made. Well, I couldn't complete the syllabus in two days. Then I had to revise some older topics. Then, I had to get away on some personal business. And things got delayed. Anyway, what I want to say, I will be more practical and less ambitious in planning my study schedule from next time.

Then international break is over and club football is back. But today we don't get to see Real Madird's match because the entire ESPN Star network's slots are blocked telecasting some other live matches. India vs Australia 3rd ODI in two channels, one telecast in English and the other one in Hindi, then ManU, Arsenal and Chelsea matches on three more channels. If everything works out, I will try to watch the match online. It is a very important week for Madrid because any drop in points will make it very difficult to win the league. Unlike BPL, where top teams can drop points now and then, here in La Liga, Real and Barca can not afford to drop points cheaply. Over the whole season, these both teams only loose two or three matches and the last two seasons saw Real and Barca get 100 points out of possible 114, dropping just 14 points. And in this season, while Barcelona haven't dropped a single point, we are already 5 points behind them. So, no place for complacency.