2013-10-19

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.

2013-10-06

Indian Agriculture - Day 4

Hello there...

So, It took me 3 days to finish the topic Land Reforms in India. I planned to finish this topic in 2 days, but I had to spend one more day on it. I have read 2 chapters from IGNOU materials, then little researching in the net and quickly went through a few papers submitted on this topic by experts. I hope this would suffice. Now, next topic is Food processing. I assume this would take another 2 days.

So, now football. Yesterday, I watched only one match. Levante vs Real Madrid. What a come back. You know after the home team scored the second goal, I was in shock. Like is this really happening again? But when Morata equalised, I remembered the matches against City and Dortmund in last year UCL group stages, hoping for a winner. And we found winner in who else, none other than Ronaldo. After scoring the winner with just one minute left, he took off his shirt and got an yellow card for excessive celebration. I have read that Ronaldo only does massive celebrations for important goals and this one was pretty mportant. Had we not won this match, it would open 7 points gap between Barca and us in the title race, practically conceding the Liga title.

2013-10-03

Indian Agriculture - Day 1

So, with regards to my preparation, I decided to start with Indian Agriculture of GS 3rd paper. These are the topics and today I'll start with the last topic, Land Reforms in India. I hope to finish this by today.

1) Major crops cropping patterns in various parts of the country, different types of irrigation and irrigation systems; storage, transport and marketing of agricultural produce and issues and related constraints; e-technology in the aid of farmers

2) Issues related to direct and indirect farm subsidies and minimum support prices; Public Distribution System- objectives, functioning, limitations, revamping; issues of buffer stocks and food security; Technology missions; economics of animal-rearing.

3) Food processing and related industries in India- scope and significance, location, upstream and downstream requirements, supply chain management.

4) Land reforms in India.

2013-10-02

Right Ho, Jeeves

Okay, So I managed to finish the novel 'Right Ho, Jeeves' yesterday. This is my first novel of PG Wodehouse and it was okay. The summary of the novel is this, Bertie tries to reunite his cousin Angela and her betrothed after they call off their engagement over some silly fight. He also promises Mr. Fink-Nottle, his old friend who is a shy fellow, that he would help him propose to his love interest Miss Bassett. The entire happenings take place in Brinkley Manor, home of Angela's mother Aunt Dahlia. But Bertie fails in his endeavours. Finally when things go out of Bertie's hand, his butler Jeeves resolves all the issues in a matter of 20 minutes. All in all, a good novel. But I liked 'Yes Minister', even though both of them are somewhat different types of novels.

2013-09-29

Derby Loss

So, Real Madrid lost to Atletico Madrid at home, courtesy of Diego Costa's 11th minute goal. I wasn't surprised at this loss, but disappointed. There wasn't any surprise because what has happened over the last few games with Real Madrid, happened even in this game. So, there was nothing to be surprised about. And Atletico played just like the way anyone thought they would play.

The first thing that wasn't a surprise is what everybody knew - how Atletico would approach the game, their style of play, their man attacking threat. Carlo Ancelotti knows, Zidane knows, the players know, I know and the whole world knows. I will tell you their style of play. They played physically - attacked every ball in their own half, tackled hard, quickly closed down the player without giving him any space or time and ran tirelessly. Even I know this because I happened to watch both legs of Super Copa Espana between Atletico and Barcelona. First leg at Atletico, both the teams scored a goal, meaning Barcelona has one away goal. At Camp nou, Atletico played very rough, Barcelona with all it's tiki-taka style couldn't penetrate Atleti's defence. There were  many fouls by Atleti's players, but nevertheless, not a single goal for Barcelona's side. So, there was clear knowledge as to how Atletico would approach the game. And then, coming into this match, Diego Costa was in super form, joint top scorer in La Liga alongside Messi. You would assume that he would be tightly marked and not given any time on the ball. But no, that's not the case. When Di Maria looses the ball in midfield and Koke passed the ball to Diego Costa, there was no one marking him, very poor positioning by Pepe and Arbeloa. He would be Atletico's release man, and boy, what a game did he have. I've read that he was some how involved in entire Real's back four getting yellow cards and now that I think of it, I realise it's true.

2013-09-27

Elche 1 - 2 Real Madrid

So, Match day 6 was over and Real was very fortunate to win that game against Elche. Sergio Ramos could've been sent off for his second bookable offence, but he stayed on till the end. Then late in injury time, Elche equalised. As far as I remember, it took them 3 passes for scoring, first was a long ball from Elche goal keeper to some one in the left wing, second pass was by that player on the left wing who played the ball to the one who assisted the goal scorer and the third pass was the assist itself. I don't know where Carvajal, Arbeloa, Pepe and our central defensive midfielders were and no matter how quickly Elche came forward, our defenders should have been able to deal with them. But it wasn't so and they equalised. From 80th minute I was sitting tight and was afraid that Elche might equalise and we might end up loosing 2 points. And that commentator kept on saying that Boakye scored a goal in injury time in last game and might fancy his chances in this game. And his words came true, that Boakye guy did score the goal in injury time. I wonder what homework did Real Madrid do regarding this guy, when they knew that he was known for scoring last minute goals. After Elche's equaliser, the game's almost over, but just then Real won a corner and I guess Illarra took it and it seemed to me that Pepe was fouled in the box. But he wasn't, the replays showed that it wasn't a foul and not a penalty. Anyway, the penalty was converted by Ronaldo.

2013-09-25

Monthly Update

I know I wrote a post this month, but it feels like long back. I don't know why. May be because a lot of things happened so fast this month. So, lets see what's interested me this month.

First, I am  very sad that Real didn't play well against Villarreal. It was promoted to top division this season and played very well, but I expected Real to win this match. Now, we are 2 points behind Barcelona and Athletico, although I am sure that we would overtake Athletico at some point, no matter how well they have been playing. Second, the moment of the UCL match day 1 is Ronaldo's third goal, a spectacular one. To be honest, I never thought Ronaldo could dance past three defenders all alone and put one in the goal post, but I was proved wrong and I am happy to be. Third, I am really glad to see Ozil shine at Arsenal. Whether they can win the league or not, is too early to tell, but I hope they win at least one silverware this year, be it Capital Cup or FA Cup.