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.
2014-01-24
2014-01-14
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.
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.
2013-12-18
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...
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...
2013-11-27
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...
2013-11-08
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...
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...
2013-10-28
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.
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.
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.
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.
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