Just 6 Reasons Altogether Why, Why We Joined Professional Academy!

1. To get personal attention from the Professors

2. To study on recliners!

Where are the recliners?? :'(

3. Because studying in a normal classroom in a small batch of students is too mainstream! :D 

4. Balcony view didn't cost more than the normal fees :P

5. When we thought CA, we thought Professional Academy ;)

6. Because no matter how much we write, there is always a "however", "further", "alternatively" and "In other words"!

P.S - Jokes apart, studying within the presence of such a massive population and fantastic professors is an altogether different experience but not something I regret. The lectures are unexpectedly interactive and every faculty member is good enough to solve each and every person's doubt- during the lecture or afterwards! These are days we will be craving to re-live again. Think CA, think PA ;)

10 Things We All Do During Exams

1. First things first, call up friends and get the portion.

2. Study the whole syllabus just before the exam? Challenge accepted!

3. Think very deeply about how we wasted the entire year not studying

4. Study planning: Study for an hour, power nap for two hours!

5. Mom -_- "If you don't get good marks, I will.. "

6. Bribe God. Our favorite spots - Mahalaxmi and Siddhivinayak!

7. Night duty riding on coffee/caffeine.

8. "Tera kitna hua padhke?.. Main tere aage hu" 

9. Where are the things I haven't used all year? Writing pad? Eraser? Pen? Pencil? etc

10. Before the last paper- "Guys, where are we going after exam?" 

Goaaaaaaa

10 Things Only A CA Student Will Understand

1. Which topic should I start studying with? 

Sometimes it feels like I spend more time deciding what to study and from which book to study than the actual study time!

 










 
2. Being asked from which college you are pursuing CA. 

Will you guys just stop that already. There are no colleges, no quotas, no management seats and no attendance!

3. How was my paper? I don't know. Will I pass? I don't know. 

Scoring well in the papers that were awful and scoring pitifully in the ones you expected an exemption in; sounds familiar?

4. "Engineering is more difficult than CA" - Yeah right.

If engineering is more difficult than CA then Angelina Jolie is also my girlfriend.

5. The burdensome moment of bringing the modules from the institute. 

6. What section was that?? I knew it.. Oh well, darn it.

A dozen Acts, hundreds of sections and thousands of pages to be read and that the one you skipped is the one that popped up in the question paper!

7. And after all there is nothing wrong with boasting off knowing a section. 

Hell yeahhhh!!

8. We don't like being asked the no. of attempts unless it was the first.

Ahemm ahemm.

9. Outstation audit? By a flight? Woohooo.

An article's fantasy. 

10. In your non-CA circle, anything related to finance and everybody looks at you for an answer.


Come on, reasonable time has passed since the exam, I need a revision to answer that question ehh.
 

Top 5 Foreign Debutantes in EPL in 2013-14

The top 5 foreign signings this season who make the cut here had surprisingly good seasons. Many newbies were just bench warmers or played to flop while others are listed here. It was easier to make the last year's list!

Notable misses for the No.5. spot.

• Mesut Ozil - Had a decent season, couldn't cope with high pressure English football when it mattered the most. 

• Jesus Navas - In terms of goals and assists, he doesn't stand too tall. However, his agility has been influential in City's game.

• Willian - Looked flamboyant in his style of play but never really cemented his place in the side due to healthy competition from Schurrle, Oscar, Salah etc

• Alvaro Negredo - Started the season very brightly, scoring in consecutive 9 home games. Lost his form over the course of the season and lost his place to Dzeko. 

5. Nemanja Matic (Benfica to Chelsea, £21 million)

Came in the second half of the season and immediately established himself in the playing XI. After re-joining Chelsea, he played substitute role in the first games and then started all till the end of the season. The hunk is inch perfect at tackling, long range passing and hardly error prone while defending. In half a season he proved he is the best midfielder at Chelsea ahead of Mikel and Luiz! He possesses all the qualities to compete with the best holding midfielders of the game. 

4. Dejan Lovren (Lyon to Southampton, £8.5 million)

While he is calm on the ball, he has conceded just 24 fouls in 28 appearances this season, which is sincerely phenomenal for a defender. Lovren along with Fonte at the back contributed to the 3rd highest clean sheets in the league (15) behind Arsenal and Chelsea. Lovren slipped in to the physical English game quite smoothly for a debutant. He is a highly valued player in the squad and their former manager Pochettino is already trying to tag him along to Tottenham!

3. Christian Eriksen (Ajax to Tottenham, £11.5 million)

Paulinho, Erik Lamela, Vlad Chiriches, Nacer Chadli and Roberto Soldado, all turned out to be disappointing as the season progressed. Christian Erikssen was the only Spurs signing who impressed. Erikssen boasts off his quick feet and his ability to put in those penalty area penetrating curling crosses and often steps up to take set pieces. In 25 appearances, he managed to score 7 and set up 9 others! At the age of just 22, he has got brighter years ahead and Spurs will need to hold on to him!

 

2. Wilfried Bony (Vitesse to Swansea, £12 million)

Wilfried Bony has already scored more goals in an EPL season (16) than Torres' personal best for Chelsea (8, 2012-13). And he didn't even cost 50 Million! He is a nightmare for any defender marking him. Breaks apart defense with his might and pulls the trigger on the ball without thinking twice and potent on the other end of the crosses with powerful headers. It's no surprise the beast hails from the land of Didier Drogba!  

1. Fernandinho (Shakhtar Donetsk to Manchester City, £30 million)

The little Brazilian was one of the best central midfielders in EPL this season. There were doubts raised with his big money move but he has silenced all his critics with some impeccable performances. His role on the field paved way for Yaya to play forward in a more attacking position. Fernandinho is a unique holding defensive midfielder who can attack with his pace, shooting ability and box-to-box play. 

When Football lights up Vile Parle!

The Vile Parle Premier League Season IV is over. For many of you, especially the players and owners the feeling might not have sunk in.

Last season, I managed to put up a pre-season, play-offs analysis and also a post season write up. Unfortunately, this time I can only sum all this up in one article!

The Chief Guests who graced the tournament this season

From left to right:

Chinmayee Sumeet - Sumeet Raghavan's wife, Dilip Vengsarkar - Former Indian Captain and former Chief Selector, MLA Krishna Hegde Sir, Milind Purnapatre - Former Badminton Player, Virdhawal Khade - Indian Olympic Swimmer, Milind Ingle - Prominent Music Composer, John Coutinho - Current Mumbai FC midfielder, Prathamesh Parab - Actor

 

 

The Finale

I had to be choosy about going for a match day - I could manage just one - and not so surprisingly I decided upon watching the Grand Finale of this particular season. 

The ultimate clash for the shiny trophy was between "Parle FC" - owned by Pratik Tilekar, coached by Shreyas Gokhale and Aniket Madav and "Parle Messiahs" - owned by Bharat Sir and Suraj Shetty and coached by Kedar Sane, Nimesh Patel and Anand Bandal. The finale was a replay between the two sides as the earlier play-off game between them resulted in a 2-0 victory for the Messiahs. With the presence of FC's midfield magician- Mr. "Raynier Fernandez", it was an altogether fair and square looking game with no side looking like the obvious winner.

 

And that last part was particularly a jab at the Grand Finales of Season I (Parle FC 8 – 1 Parle Diaons) and III (Parle Dazzlers 8 – 0 Parle Ashkickers) which turned out to be totally one sided affairs and not thrilling for a neutral onlooker. 

Anyway, the first half of this Finale started off at a low intensity and was pretty much of a tennis game with both the sides playing safe and attacking with long balls. The ball kept flying west to east - east to west with none of the sides breaking the dread lock of scoring but coming close to scoring a few times. 

The second half saw both the sides upping the tempo and the intensity to make a breakthrough. Counter for counter! There was intensity and flow in the game. With the scores tied at NIL each, extra time stage was entered. Were we looking at a nerve wrecking penalty shootout for the first time in a Finale at PPL?

Well, Parle FC's attack started to gel together. With a beautiful link up and a great ball from Andon D'Souza met by Kaldyn Misquitta's head on the other end, the goal drought was broken. The Messiahs geared up to get back into the game but somehow their midfield couldn't link well enough with their target-man Sohail Khatri who was well marked and caged by FC defenders. 

Another remarkable pass from Raynier, Andon latched his head onto it and bagged the tournament for Parle FC (2 - 0) - The first team to have won it twice since PPL's inception!

Post match, what was heart warming was the fact that the Messiahs - although dejected were applauding their counterpart's win. A pure game. 

 

The Prize winners   

• Best player - Raynier Fernandes (Parle FC)

Although he wasn't on the charts of the top scorers or assist providers, he was their go-to man on the field and a crowd favorite with his trickery and skills on and off the field - lured the crowd during the mid-play off incident.

• Top Goal Scorer - Andon D'Souza (Parle FC)

With 10 goals in his belly, he pioneered his side to victory with goals coming in during crucial match moments.

• Best Goalkeeper - Sheldon Raghavan (Parle Rovers)

6 clean sheets in 9 games. That's not pretty, that's fantastic. Hard luck losing in the play offs in the penalty shootout!

• Best Under-16 Player - Neel Shelar (Parle Rovers)

One of the most talented home grown talent of Parle. He is one for the future! Has been solid with his performances.

• Best Under-21 Player - Alister Mendes (Parle Messiahs)

Not every team has an Ozil; Messiahs had theirs with a whopping 9 assists to his name. Finished with his team at the 3rd spot last season and guided them to the Runners up position this season. 

• Most Valuable Player - Carlton Jude (Parle Rovers)

He has been their defensive wall. Although Carlton wasn't among the expert's choice in the early stages of the league, he proved his critics wrong!

• Kenneth Barboza Memorial Most Promising Player awared by Sudha Subramaniam - Charnel Almedia (Parle Diaons)

A player with dazzling feet, has showed great potential and looks promising enough to be the next star of the league.

• Fair Play Award - Parle United

Parle United - No yellow cards or red cards - Finished at the bottom of the league. Parle FC - 3 Yellow cards - Winners. Parle Messiahs - 2 Yellow cards - Runners up. You see what I did there? :P

• Best Presenting Team - Parle Ash Kickers

A jersey unveiling ceremony, a kit for their players, marketing online via facebook, twitter and an anthem too. They sure deserved the award.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Sponsors who make the event execution possible in the first place

• Kirloskar Electric
• Safari Bags
• VK Sports
• Gajalee
• Satkar Group of Hotels
• Playerify
• Ultimate Sports
• PH Finance
• Excel Industries
• Midas Care
• Soccer Connections
• Foreseegame.com
• Etc

The team which executes! Credits to each and every one!

• Siddarth Sabhapathy
• Meghan Pradhan
• Sunit Kanyalkar
• Sagar Giri
• Sabhapathy Iyer
• Prasad Paranjape (Kaka)
• Kishor Kanyalkar
• Akshay Narkar
• Devednya Vyas
• Akshay Kashte
• Pushkaraj Behere
• Kedar Sane
• Nimesh Patel
• Malay Vartak
• Kunal Kerkar
• Nachiket Sant
• Abhijit Ghaisas - Physio
• Om Bag
• Anand Bandal
• Purvesh Limaye
• Abhiraj Rajadhyaksha
• Lucas
• Pranay Kapuria
• Shounak Nayak

Upside Down World

Upside Down World

The one to depend on breaks your trust

The one you love is not meant to be your mate

The one who truly loves you is misunderstood

The one who believes is misled to believe

The one who is hated by all is the humblest
The one who is surrounded by a crowd is the loneliest

The one who is rich is the most arrogant one

The one who speaks his heart out is just rude

The one who sacrifices everything is always taken for granted

The one who seems to have everything is the loneliest

The one looking innocent maybe the shrewdest

The one who is sugary and polite is just waiting for you to turn your back

The one who seems perfect maybe the most pretentious one

The one who is misunderstood might be the most understanding!

Nothing is what it seems like anymore.

Introduction to Indian Football

Yes that's right, I just said introduction because most of us in India are probably new to this topic. 

Just mentally answer these questions;

• Who is the most successful manager of EPL?
• How many times has Brazil won the World Cup?
• The most expensive transfer so far?

If you follow football even half of what I follow, you would know the answers.
Now, the next round of this quiz.
Don't mentally answer it, say it out loud. Make yourself proud.

• Who was the most successful coach for the Indian National team?
• How many times has India played in a World Cup?
• Which club has won the most number of I-Leagues? 

Simple eh?

You see a thousand people wearing a Messi jersey but never a dude posing in Bhaichung Bhutia jersey.You keep track of the number of titles European teams have but you don't know who the last I-League winner was. And we say that Indian football is no fun. 

How can a sport excel without the support of its countrymen? Take for example- cricket; it took off on a bigger scale after 1983. Are we waiting for something like that to happen in football? India won in 1983 with eight nations competing. Well, in football you got 204 nations competing just to qualify for the World Cup.

There are things about Indian football that you should just be knowing as a football fan; inexcusable to be unaware of these facts!


Durand Cup

This tournament, named after its founder Sir Mortimer Durand has been played in India since 1888; making it the third oldest competition in the world. Football leagues were played in India even before Real Madrid or FIFA existed. It was initially started as a competition for the Army- British as well as Indian but later it became an open affair for public teams too. Even today there is army presence in the competition. Army XI last won it in 2005. The Indian Army deserves a lot of credit for keeping this competition alive.

1948  

65 years ago at the London Olympics an independent Indian national football team took on France in the first round of the Olympic football competition. The Indians put on a brave display to win the hearts of the spectators. For 70 minutes the score stood at NIL all. Had the Indians not missed the two penalties, the French would've faced a major heartbreak who ultimately won it 2-1. What highlighted the match other then India's fighting spirit was the fact that most of the Indian players were either barefoot or just wearing socks!


The one-time World Cup qualification

India has qualified for a World Cup; never played in one. The qualification came as a result of the withdrawal of the other Asian countries. And why India withdrew later has a lot of disputed answers. One being that India couldn't afford the trip to Brazil, lack of match practice, team selection issues and the ridiculous one being that we withdrew coz barefoot playing wasn't allowed.   

"We had no idea about the World Cup then. Had we been better informed, we would have taken the initiative ourselves. For us, the Olympics was everything.. There was nothing bigger"

               - Sailen Manna, who could have been the captain of the team

A missed opportunity indeed. (Sportskeeda article)

The golden era - Undisputed Asian champs


India won the 1951 Asian Games which they hosted. In 1952, later, India also won the Colombo Qradrangular Cup held in Sri Lanka. The winning streak continued with India winning the cup again in 1954, 1954 and 1955 which were held in Burma, Calcutta and Dhaka respectively. The Indian national team ended up as runners up at the 1954 Asian Games.

One of the greatest achievements of Indian football was finishing 4th at the 1956 Olympics with the Indian striker Neville D'souza ending up as joint-highest goalscorer who also became the first Asian to score a hattrick in the Olympics and also making India the first Asian team to reach the Olympics semis in the process.

India went on to win the 1962 Asian games and two years later finished second in 1964 Asia Cup. India played in the Merdeka Cup in 1964, 1965 and 1966 where they finshed 2nd, 3rd and again 3rd respectively.


Who is Syed Abdul Rahim?

The man responsible for the ^Golden era of Indian football, pioneer of modern football and the most successful Indian football coach- Syed Abdul Rahim. He is the "Special One" of Indian football. He had the eye to spot talent and make them shine. He was the coach from 1950 till his death in 1963 due to cancer. He would observe day-to-day things, movements of monkeys and drew inputs from them to formulate his game plans. 

“I still remember he was suffering with advanced cancer during the Jakarta Asian Games. But the struggling Rahim Saab never complained and went about his job in a meticulous way. We won the gold. There was tears in his eyes when we won the gold. He died one year later. That was the last big achievement by the Indian football team. It is sad the authorities concerned choose to ignore his unstinting efforts,” 

- One of the forwards who played under him in the 1950s, Balaram.

Unfortunately, he is an unsung, forgotten hero today.

Cricket - A Gentleman's game? Not anymore.

Umpire signalling a free hit - Happy sight for all except the bowler

Cricket can be traced back to the 16th Century. It is said to have been played by the British Aristocrats who suggested the game be played in 'a gentlemanly manner' ,which means no sledging, cheating, body-line bowling , temper tantrums or excessive appealing. If the batsman knew he was out, he should 'walk' even if the umpire decided otherwise. 

Well, let's not get into the Aristocrats' meaning of a 'gentleman's game'! We have all kinds of players who would contradict each and every term in that definition!

For me, a gentleman's game broadly extends to rules not favoring one but fair enough for both; batsmen and bowlers. 

Apparently not. The changes in the game over the past few years have made it a Batsman's game. 

About a decade ago, a score over 300 was considered a safe house for any defending team. Getting there was the wish of every team batting first. The psychological edge of having that score was good enough to build an initial pressure on the opposition. 

The advent of Twenty20 cricket in 2003 paved way for explosive cricket in terms of scoring and beating of bowlers all around the park. Even the "Free hit" is an equally demoralizing rule for a bowler.

Bats are getting heavier, broader and bigger. Specials bats; like the Mongoose are being used to improve the six hitting abilities; but never a ball made which will swing, bounce or spin more. 

To furthermore empower the high scoring games, boundaries are being shortened but never came in a rule to extend their lengths! There has been power play (field restrictions) introduced, bouncers disallowed, flat pitches made but never a day is spared to insult and humiliate bowlers who give away a little extra runs! 

 "T20 cricket cannot be stopped. It is a runaway train prepared to kill everything in its way. I am not joking when I say this. If we don't handle T20 cricket properly, it will crush everything in its way, including the Test and one-day formats"

-Dean Jones

The ICC came up with the "Two new balls" per innings rule.That's just cherry on the top for batsmen as the balls won't make much movement.

“I think it’s tough for bowlers. The ball doesn’t reverse much because it’s quite new. The ball is only 25 overs old at the most. Even spinners don’t get that much turn”

Suresh Raina

The above coming from someone who is nowhere near an expert in bowling but true indeed. 

In the latest series between India-Australia (Sportskeeda article), noticed the ball running away for boundaries and wondering "How the hell is he finding every single gap!" Well that's coz there are just gaps now with the new "Only four fielders outside the 30 yard circle" 

Just how much difference can one less out-fielder make? 

 “I think captains will have a hard job in setting fields and bowlers will have an even tougher job in trying to restrict the batsmen with all the innovative stroke-play that has come into the game.” 

-Kieron Pollard 

"I have this funny feeling that spinners will not have a role to play in the future."

-Mahela Jayawardene

"This rule of having two new balls in an innings and not having more than four fielders outside the 30-metre circle throughout an innings has made life difficult."

-Shahid Afridi 

What more now? 

• A restriction on the run-up of fast bowlers? 

• Bouncers up to waist height only?

• Pace limit to 130 kmph?

• Under-arm bowling?

It's time to re-think the rules ICC. Make some fair rules. Change the Batsmen's game.

If you enjoyed this post, consider leaving a comment and if you didn't then definitely leave a comment! :)