Wimbledon semifinals :Anderson vs Isner, what a match!!!

Anderson has been fighting since 2nd round,with this match going till 6 hr 36 min, pic says all. "It was a draw but unfortunately one of us had to go through, I know him since 14 years, he has helped me to push my limits  "- Anderson on Isner after the match. A reminder of Isner vs Mahut match , 8 years back, which went for more than 11 hours.

Brazil loses

Missed chances , own goal, brilliant Belgium defence except for few lapses at last+Courtois!! For Brazil Douglas Costa was superb, missed chances Neymar, Thiago Silva, Coutinho, lack lustre performance by Gabriel Jesus.

It's unfair to have Brazil, france , Belgium on same half, next match i.e. France vs Belgium is a virtual final.

Neymar, Coutinho, Marcelo, Thiago Silva, Douglas Costa, Paulinho... With such a fine team it's a pity Brazil is going home early. I wish Dani Alves was there..With Argentina, Germany, Spain already out, Brazil could have capitalised better this opportunity. Neymar misses a chance to get hold of Ballon d OR and world cup, which could have brought him little closer to Messi, Ronaldo, till nw except the match against Mexico he hasn't proved himself to be a match winner..

France vs Belgium, I think France will go through.

World Cup 2018

WC 2018 is eating my time, have been watching all high profile matches including Argentina-France, Portugal-Uruguay, but the time seems to be well spent as all the matches are going so close. Yesterday watched Croatia almost losing out to defiant Denmark (Denmark's goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel almost snatched the game), but thanks to our Barcelona man, Rakitic, Croatia survived. Sad to see Senegal out of tournament, inspite of brilliant performance(out because of fair play :p). I vivdly remember stellar performance of Senegal in 2002 World cup where they even beat defending champion France. The world cup fever had engulfed many in FRI, Dehradun and many kids including me had joined Soccer coaching.(I joined in 2006 too). 2002 world cup was the reason I started following soccer and eventually FC Barcelona all thanks  to  Ronaldinho. :)

I just hope this world cup doesn't become World Cup 2010 for me, where I wasted a lot of time and a crucial month of IIT JEE preparation. Final damage was done by 2011 Cricket world cup which was happening during my board exams, and still regret leaving the English exam early (in excitement I forgot to attempt a book which I found out after reaching home) to watch India vs South Africa match, to my shock when I reached home, I found out the match was the next day( which India lost). My performance in English killed my result and till date, which ever interview I go , I fear interviewer asking me about how I managed to go down from 95.4% in class 10th to 74% in 12th( has already happened in 4 interviews). Final nail in coffin was final India vs Sri Lanka, a week before IIT JEE 2011. This cummulation of errors was finally paid with below potential performance in IIT JEE and ruining my 2 years of painful hardwork ultimately costing me a year.

Watching a match is fine, but I analyzing it ,watching post match discussion is not fine, because it takes the focus away from real purpose, i.e. Civil services. I better mend my ways lest I pay a price in this year's mains, it will be dejavu experience.

                                            As cool as cucumber, Ivan Rakitic ☺☺

Why I love Lionel Messi?

Sacrifice
Skills
Team man
Fitness : In 15 years of career , hardly injured
Not egostic, relationships are more important than career goals: shares penalty with Neymar, Suarez
Patriotic: Chose to play for Argentina, could have easily been part of Spanish team(like Diego Costa) and won a world cup
Humble( never says he's the goat or anywhere near it)
Hunger to improve, each day i have to work to become best version of myself
Focus each day
Simple and disciplined life:  could have spent a extravagant life,  lives a low  profile life
Loyal:, married the 1st girl he dated, (dating a supermodel is not difficult when you are earning multi million euros), loyal to Barcelona, says the only club he will leave Barcelona for is Newell's Old Boys Club, his boyhood club
Motivates his team mates
Doesn't react to criticism, several people have raised questions on his leadership qualities and chided him for not getting a world cup for Argentina, people forget his contribution as a person who took the team to Copa Finals as well as World Cup final in 2014 where he was judged player of the tournament
Reliable: In his roughly 15 years at Barcelona , he has hardly missed a match
Duty is foremost: Took a match off(insignificant game) when he became father, but came back for the next match
Doesn't let his emotions take over him: Never cried when he got Ballon D ors, even in world cup loss he didn't display his pain through tears

Prelims in ruins

Date:3/6/2018, Time 18:18
1st paper was beyond me, the situations which I had heard of are being experienced by me(people qualifying for mais but failing prelims in next attempt) Didn't check the marks, need to see them fast, the reservation to Kotdwar hangs on that. Whatever be the consequence need to face it bravely and judiciously plan out my next step. Hope dies last!!

Date:18/6/2018, Time: 21:33
Getting in range of 98-104 , lot of variations in answer key, many in the same range, just wondering, when i appeared for pre last year after 3 -3.5 months of prep, i performed much better and passed the 1st stage, but here I am after 1yr 3 months of prep and still in a situation where I am not sure whether I will get to write mains this year or not. With so less no. of seats it's impossible for cutoff to below a certain limit( ard 100), because there will always be some set of students who will find the test in their favour + the students who prepare solely for pre further increase the cutoffs, making life difficult for serious mains candidates. This year's easy CSAT can also prevent the cutoffs from going too low unlike last time.

The biggest question is how should i study so as to make sure that I qualify  pre next year for sure. Studying more is one option but certainly more smart effort is required. One thing I understood from this their's pre, there is no substitute for newspaper, the questions which i answered most confidently was a result of my knowldege gained through passionately reading newspapers.. Also my love for travelling(Kodikalnal-man made lake) and tracing train routes also helped.( Bangalore to Delhi Rajdhani , 1st goes towards right towards Hyd, Hyderbad to Nagpur almost straight, Nagpur to Bhopal left, Bhopal to Jhansi litle right, Jhnasi to Delhi left, so ideally Bangalore-Bhopal-Delhi should be in a straight line running parallel to longitude; so Bangalore and Delhi have almost same longitude not Delhi-Hyderabad or Delhi-Nagpur).

So conclusion, is reading just coaching booklets doesn't help, the knowledge acquired from daily observation does help in 2-3 questions, which might be the deciding factor

Civil Service Prelims 2018

2 days for Prelims. Last year I had lesser preparation but more confidence, this year inspite of more dedicated efforts and practice, I don't feel confident. Probably i more aware of the competition , more competition this year ( due to lesser seats) and aware of the fact that I narrowly got through last year.

In spite of studying hard and  revising well till now, here I am wiling away my time at the cruch time when real champions increase their efforts. I  am sleeping more than usual, dreaming about situations which don't exist and may never exist. This year has been overall very bad till now(especially after April) and i don't want the miseries to pile up on me. Failure is not an option, failing prelims will be a blow and a situation will arise for which i am not at all prepared.

Thinking what's after exam is not my job, i have to go there , perform to best of my abilities. But before that I have to make sure, I keep all my arsenal ready, for which I need to utilize these last 2 days very well. It's not over till it's over.

Agumbe

3 years of procrastination and finally this trip happened.

Part of the trip:

Naval,Snehil (Bangalore)
Vimal,Kaustubh, Payasi(Chennai)

Reaching destination:

Caught 16579 Yeswantpur- Shimoga express, it's a train which boasts brand new LHB rake. Had we arrived 45 minutes before the departure of the train, would have easily got a seat.(Unreserved coach)
But fortunately at Tiptur many people got down, and we got a seat. Reached Shimoga Town at around 3pm. The bus stand is roughly 2km from the railway station. After having light lunch, we caught a bus to Sringeri.( Private Operator Bus). Through scenic ghat section it took roughly 4 hours for us to cover a distance of 120km.( ticket price is Rs 100).

What to see in Sringeri:

We didn't spend much time at Sringeri .We reached Sringeri around 7:45pm and left next morning at 10am. Advaita Vedanta Matha established by Adi Shankaraya shouldn't be missed. We narrowly missed the free meals served at the temple(8:30pm is the closing time)

Sringeri to Agumbe is roughly 25 km at we need to change buses at  Begar.(took 1hr)

Agumbe: Had breakfast at restaurant at the bus stand. Hired an auto to Jogigundi falls(entry around Rs 15, don't remember clearly).(Auto cost us  Rs 350 for Agumbe to Barkana and back)

Barkana falls trails starts roughly 2km ahead of the point from where trail starts for Jogigundi falls. And if one is lucky, she/he won't need to pay Rs 200 as the entry fees.(I didn't pay).Barkana falls trail is around 3km long and passes through dense forest. You will be definitely be greeted by a lot of leaches if you happen to visit the area in monsoon. Keep salt with you or even deo may come handy to neutralize the leach. At the view point, we found ourselves in the abode of clouds. We got the reward for patiently waiting for 10 min. , as the clouds cleared and the majestic Barkana falls amidst dense evergreen forest became visible. (reminded me of Sohra,Cherrapunji) After gazing for full 20-30min we made our way back.

Sunset point: Sunset point was around 2km from Agumbe city centre. And we were lucky enough to spot Arabian sea too. On our way back we went to Doddamane, the house where iconic Malgudi Days TV series was shot. Was pleasantly surprised by the hospitality of Kasturi amma.


After having Masala Dosa and coffee at the restaurant at the bus-stand we boarded KSRTC sleeper bus(at 7:50pm ) to Bangalore via Shimoga, and peacefully reached majestic at 5 in the morning.


Note: Agumbe receives one of the highest rainfall in south India so it's always better to carry umbrella/raincoat. Bag should be waterproof. Carry some salt for dealing with leaches. Keep spare clothes(shorts and T-shirts). Wearing normal running shoes is not a good option as you might have wet shoes at end of the day.( I had sandals while my friends wore shoes). Keep a mp3 loaded with songs to distract your mind.(if you feel dizzy on ghat roads). Try to walk on dry patch, puddle of water is the main source of leaches. Keep cash with you, i didn't see any ATM in Agumbe. Be careful with pitching tents, there's something more dangerous than leaches out there, King Cobra.