Driving our little Fiat through the Tuscan countryside, this stunningly beautiful view – a gorgeous white cloud cover in a blue sky set over yellow sunflower fields – showed as we came up over a hill. I did three things at once… dropped my jaw, made a sharp turn, hit the brakes so hard that my pregnant screaming wife thought I was having a heart attack :)

The location and the timing couldn’t have been more perfect, because, right after I was done taking my pictures, the cloud cover was gone. As good as the sunflower field looked by itself against the deep blue sky, the white puffy cloud cover and its shadow is what completes this picture. I was in the right place, at just the right time. Wouldn’t you agree?

Interesting observation… focus your eyes on the middle part of the picture and your eyes will trick you into thinking the shadows are moving to the back of the field. Did you feel it?

Like it enough to buy a print or two?

Given the time and freedom, my mind can get into a creative groove, imagining photographs of objects in and around the house. Well, most times that is. Other times however, I’d have to look for inspiration elsewhere, like I did for this Valentine’s Day prop.

One of my best sources of inspiration however, is my eight year old son who is a budding artist. All I have to do is ask… “Got any photo ideas for me today, buddy?” and I can expect him to come up with a few good ones that I can choose from. It never ceases to amaze me how kids, when not bridled, can be very imaginative with their thinking, an ability that grown-ups tend to leak when not challenged.

On this occasion it was color pencils that were the subject of attention. I let him imagine in his mind, exactly how he wanted the shot composed, and this is what he came up with!

There are reports of spaceships appearing over New York, Washington DC, Los Angeles…. and… the Great Smokey Mountains? Yep. If this looks like a scene out of Roland Emmerich’s Independence Day, you wouldn’t be alone.

This is one of my first attempts at HDR photography… three bracketed exposures combined using Photomatix Pro. A liberal application of a few Lightroom presets yielded the surreal effect that makes it seem like a spaceship is about to show from behind the fiery clouds!

Between my day job as a technologist, and the cold, short days, there isn’t much of outdoor photography that I get to do during the winter months, in the New York area. Well, at least that is my excuse and I’m sticking to it. However, opportunities abound in and around the house, where almost anything and anyone is fair game for me and my Canon camera.

Besides being a lot of fun, it allows me to hone my camera skills and I get to know all of the equipment I own, a lot better. One of my ongoing themes is abstracts, where I’m only limited by my imagination. On the occasion that my imagination does limit me – happens quite a lot ;) – I look for inspiration from fellow togs, books or the expansive internet.

So it was perfect timing, what with Valentine’s day on the horizon, when I stumbled across Anna The Red’s post on how to make a heart shaped egg. A few boiled eggs later, I had two hearts on a red silicone pan, beating as one ;)

Quick, what’s the first thing that comes to mind when you hear the name Venice? If you’re like most people, you probably said… the gondola, right? Well, why wouldn’t you?

Known for its architecture, its canals, its bridges, its carnival and for its film festival, Venice is most synonymous with the gondola. It’s said that the gondola ride has to be experienced alongside your soul mate. I don’t know of anyone that’s been to this beautiful city and not been on a gondola ride through its canals, and my wife and I are no exceptions.

When the gondolas aren’t providing an experience of a lifetime for tourists, they remain moored to the pier. This is an early morning view of a few of them under deep blue wraps in the foreground, with the island of San Giorgio Maggiore in the far background.

What a difference a year makes! Exactly twelve months ago, Rafael Nadal had put an exclamation point on one of the greatest seasons that the tennis world had seen by winning the 2010 US Open. Not only had he completed a career grand slam, he now held three of the four majors in the same calendar year, a feat accomplished by a select few. If that weren’t enough, he had managed to finally chase down the inimitable Roger Federer, dethroned him from the sport’s pinnacle, established himself firmly as the numero uno, all set to rule for a while.

Or so it seemed, until 2011 happened! Rafa’s amazing year would pale in comparison to the year that Novak Djokovic has had so far. Not only has Novak managed to win three of the four majors himself, and usurped the number one ranking, he’s won all except two of his matches all year, and in the process, has decimated the entire field, including two of the greatest players the sport has ever seen in Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal.

As much as it highlights the phenomenal year that Djokovic has had, it also throws into sharp focus, the greatness of Roger Federer. Wait, what? Didn’t I just say that Roger got decimated by Novak too? Yes, I did, but let me explain!

The #1 Ranking

For a little over four years, the tennis world was ruled by Roger Federer at #1. And, for most of those four years, Rafa was right behind him at #2, realizing only too well that Roger would not be able to sustain his ridiculously high level for ever. He would be there to swoop in for the kill when the inevitable slip-up came. It sure did on an autumn day in August of ’08, but for a mind-boggling 141 weeks, Federer had managed to keep at bay, his tormenter on the tennis court.

In stark contrast, Novak Djokovic, in the span of exactly 52 weeks has taken over the number one spot from Rafa. Something which goes to show that holding on to the number one spot is a lot harder than getting there. There is a lot more pressure – the pressure to defend all the points that made you the number one, the pressure of being the hunted as opposed to being the hunter, and last but not the least, the media pressure that comes from being the #1.

Despite being the number one in recent times, Rafa has always downplayed himself down as the favorite to win any tournament. He pictures himself as the underdog, likely because it’s a lot less pressure to deal with. Roger on the other hand completely embraced everything that came with being number one and has handled the pressure of being the numero uno much better than most other number ones!

The Number 16!

Every tennis fan and analysts will point to the one number that almost cements Federer’s place as the greatest of all time… a record 16 major slam titles, two more than the great Pete Sampras. As great as this number is however, it pales into insignificance when we look at just a few of the many other gaudy stats that this man owns on the grand slam stage.

• 30 straight quarter finals
• 23 straight semi-final appearances (nearest is 10)
• 23 finals
• 5+ appearances at the finals of each slam (nearest is 2)
• Has held three of the four slams on three separate occasions

This shows nothing if not the undeniable fact that he is the greatest grand slam player of all time. He has been there at the final stages of a slam, every time that he’s played since 2004. Detractors however would love to bring up the “weak era” argument, which holds no water. Be that as it may – a weak era – it still shows the incredible mental zone that he’d have needed to be in, to have had very few bad days at the grand slams.

Year(s) of Dominance

Talking of bad days, Novak Djokovic during his unbelievable run this year has had all of two! Let’s just take a second to digest that. In a sport where the calendar is pretty much full and the schedule is grueling, we’re almost into October already, and Novak has had two losses in the 66 matches he has played so far? That is a winning percentage of 97%, which boggles the mind.

Mind boggling as it is, now imagine doing something similar over a three year span. That’s exactly what Roger Federer did between 2005 & 2007. And, at the end of each of those three years, Roger held three of the four slams – Rafa would not relinquish control of the French. If that wasn’t enough, during two of those three dominant years, he won the season ending tennis masters, where only the top eight players are featured, losing a tough five setter to his former nemesis, David Nalbandian in ’05.

These stats alone are more than enough to show that Roger has been the most dominant player of the open era, but why stop there?

Debunking the “H2H”

Time and time again, the detractors (some of them outright haters!) of Roger Federer have brought up his head-to-head record (henceforth referred to as “The H2H“) against Rafael Nadal in an effort to belittle his greatness. His incredible list of accomplishments, it seems are completely immaterial in the face of the one stat that matters most… “the H2H”

The H2H is so blinding that they fail to see that it unfairly punishes Federer for making it to all those clay-court finals, the domain of the Spaniard, while Rafa himself often didn’t make it far enough to play Roger, who has almost always been a fixture, on the faster courts.

You’d think a former champion like Mats Wilander might have a sensible head on his shoulder, but alas, in his obsessive compulsive need to stomp on champions who have made him irrelevant, he wields the H2H like a loaded weapon pointed at Roger’s greatness.

“How can one guy (Federer) be the greatest, if he cannot even beat another guy (Nadal) in the same era consistently?” he asks.

Nothing highlights the sheer absurdity of using the H2H to discredit Federer more than what has transpired this entire year. Rafa, the guy who a year ago, at the same time, was at the absolute pinnacle of the sport has failed to win two full sets, let alone manage to beat his new “rival” in any of the six matches they’ve played this year. Although their H2H now stands at 16-13 in favor of the Spaniard, you’d have to figure that the tide has turned, and when all is said and done that H2H will surely be in favor of the Serb.

To use Mats’ idiotic argument against himself, how can Rafa be called the greatest if he cannot even beat Novak, the guy who is in the same age group as him? Don’t get me wrong, this is not meant as a slight against Rafa, who I have the utmost respect for, but a slight against the pundits that have on occasion included the likes of Brad Gilbert and Patrick McEnroe.

Therein lies the fallacy of the H2H argument, which ignores the following facts:

1. Despite being in the same age group, players mature at a different pace. Despite being just under a year older than Novak, Rafa matured much earlier than him and won his first slam at the age of 19. In contrast, both Roger and Novak only won their first one at 21.
2. Tennis players, as this New York Times chart points out, are at their peaks between the years 23 & 26.
3. Despite being the second ranked player since 2006, Rafa’s first victory over Roger in a slam not named the French Open, came at Wimbledon ’08, a year past Roger’s theoretical prime, with Rafa just getting to his.
4. Roger Federer has been the second best clay court player since the year 2004. What has it earned him? Nothing but defeats at the hands of the best clay court player, and a lousy H2H.
5. There are way more clay court tournaments favoring Rafa, than there are on grass, a surface that favored Roger!
6. This is a game of matchups – Rafa’s game doesn’t match up too well against Novak, just like Roger’s game doesn’t match up to well against Rafa.

And for those who bring up the H2H in slam finals as an indicator of a failing, I give you Novak’s 2-1 H2H over Rafa. If H2H were the only stat that mattered, Nikolay Davydenko, with a 6-4 record over Rafa would be a better player, right?

Traits of greatness – efficiency, longevity & creativity

He is at the advanced tennis age of 30, and the chart above hardly looks promising. Yet, there he is at #3 in the world, having made it to every single one of the slam quarter finals, two semi-finals and one final this year, giving himself an opportunity to add to his 16 slams. To put things in perspective, the nearest 30 year old in the rankings is Jurgen Melzer at #17, while the nearest 30 year old former champion is Juan Carlos Ferrero at #107.

Granted that he has been fairly lucky with injuries (or the lack of it), but a lot of that has to be attributed to the efficiency in his game, combined with a carefully planned schedule. Time however, catches up with pretty much everybody, and even the greatest tennis player isn’t exempt from nature’s laws. He appears to be a fraction of a second slower than he was at his peak, which at the highest levels of tennis, might well be the difference between winning a slam and being the 100th ranked player.

The fact that Roger, as a father at 30, is still a contender at every tournament he enters, speaks volumes about his longevity, his amazing skills and the passion that he still has for the game. For all the crap that he takes at the hands of his detractors, he might very well have single-handedly preserved Rafa’s legacy and greatness (along with his own, of course) by stopping Novak dead in his tracks at the French Open semis.

In a brilliant display of tennis that far belied his 29 years, he showed the rest of the tennis world that he still has the goods to beat the juggernaut that is Novak Djokovic, a feat that even Rafa has been unable to perform all year. The irony is that if it weren’t for Roger, we’d likely be talking about the greatest year ever, in the history of tennis with the Serb holding all four slam titles in the same calendar year.

In fact, I’m absolutely certain that our afore mentioned tennis analysts and pundits would have anointed Novak as the greatest player of all time, overlooking and completely ignoring in the process, the fact that Roger & Rafa together own 26 slam titles, obtained while keeping at bay a fast improving field, over a period of years.

So there he stood at the service line last week, at the US Open semi, well past his theoretical prime, just two match points away from handing Novak Djokovic only his second defeat in a slam this year. It took nothing short of a gutsy gamble, and an incredibly lucky shot from Novak to get out of it and thwart Federer. Nevertheless, he remains the only player to have taken two full sets off Novak this year… and… he’s done it twice.

Where am I going with this you ask? To be brutally honest, Roger looks like the only guy who might be able to challenge Novak’s supremacy over the 12 months. Rafa has been confounded by the matchup against Novak, his game lacking the variety to make a dent in Novak’s confidence right now. Roger on the other hand has shown that he can make the necessary adjustments, and bring creativity into his game to stay with a rival six years younger than him, and possibly remind him that he used to be king of the courts!

The measure of Greatness

Although we could make the argument for the number of slams won, as the yard stick to measure greatness – it is after all the one stat that spans generations, right? – we need to look at it holistically. Rafa, with all that he’s accomplished, will have his own place besides the all time greats even if he doesn’t add another title. Novak has had a fantastic year, but we’ll have to wait and see how he does the following year and the one after it to put him in the same category as Roger and Rafa.

At 30 years of age, Roger Federer is at the twilight of his career. Unabashed fan that I am, I’d love nothing more than for him to add at least one more slam to his already gaudy record collection. No matter if he does or not, if we were to simply look at his accomplishments, his records, his consistency, his longevity, and above all his artistic genius on the court, we’d see that this man is greatness personified, unparalleled in what he has done to and for the game of tennis!

I’ve tried to make my case for Roger as the GOAT here, and hopefully I’ve managed to convince you, if you weren’t already convinced, that is. In the end however, there’s just this one thing that pushes it over the edge for me. His game has this indescribable component to it that simply provides joy, creates this feeling of love, and elevates my consciousness in a way that nobody else has ever been able to, and likely never will. That to me is true GOATness!!!

Concept Camera: The WVIL from Artefact on Vimeo.

Right now, this is nothing more than a concept, but the Wireless Viewfinder Interchangeable Lens could become reality… I’m definitely excited!

Growing up in Chennai India, I would visit my grand parents’ house in Kuzhuppilly, a beautiful little town in the neighboring state of Kerala, almost every summer vacation. Not only was I excited to go see my grand parents, I’d look forward to the journey that would get me there… twelve hours in a train from Chennai to the nearest major city in Kochi, a ferry ride along the coast, and an hour long bus ride through lush green vegetation.

The very modest house with four rooms, set amongst coconut and palm trees, was surrounded by canals, and I remember we’d do a balancing act walking across wooden planks to get to the house. Every summer, the small rooms would be filled with several grand kids, sleeping on the floor with sometimes nothing more than woven mats for beds.

With no electricity, one barely serviceable bathroom that everyone had to use, firewood stoves for cooking and heating, chickens, ducks and cows all around the house, it was a far cry from the house my parents live in Chennai, leave alone the house we live in, in the suburbs of New York. As far as it was from the way we live today, I must say that I had the most fun ever on these summer vacations.

It might have been a very modest house, with small windows, but the people who lived in the house, my grand parents, who provided me with possibly the most fun memories of my life, had the biggest hearts that I’ve ever known!

It’s exactly two weeks since the last ball of the 2011 World Cup landed somewhere in the top tier of Mumbai’s Wankhede stadium, probably in the hands of a lucky fan. That monstrous six by the Indian captain, the perfect finish to India’s campaign to regain the World Cup that was lost in 1987.

Sri Lanka’s batting lineup had been throttled for most of their innings, with 45 overs yielding just 211 runs, but with the brilliant Mahela Jayawardene holding one end steady, the Lankans put on an additional 64 off the last 30 balls, pushing India’s target from the very gettable into the realms of the difficult, planting seeds of doubt in the minds of Indian players and fans.

Challenging as it looked, 275 wasn’t a very difficult target to get, what with Sachin “Superman” Tendulkar, and his swashbuckling sidekick, Virender Sehwag to open the Indian innings. If belief was beginning to fade when Sehwag went second ball, it was all but gone when the great man himself left not much later. Wait, this was not the way the script was written. This was supposed to be his crowning moment, he was going to get his 100th hundred while winning India the World Cup. Oh well. So much for well written scripts!

The script may have been rewritten, the main characters may have been recast, but the story and the ending was going to remain the same. Indian hopes arose, and belief returned as the young middle order led by Gautam Gambhir and Virat Kohli steadied the ship. It took a brilliant, calm, cool and determined captain MS Dhoni at the wheel however, to bring the ship into the shores of victory. Not only had India exorcised the World Cup demons that had haunted them for 28 years, the great man – Sachin Tendulkar – had finally achieved the one thing that had been missing from his resume… the World Cup of Cricket!

The last month and a half of cricket has been simply outstanding, leading up to such a high in the finals that I am now suffering from World Cup withdrawal. Four years is way too long between great sporting events, be it cricket, soccer or the Olympics. Every two years would be perfect, because you still would long for it, but you wouldn’t have to long for it too long (pun intended!)

So, now that it’s all done and done, it’s time to reflect on what is in my opinion one of the greatest World Cups I’ve seen in my life. I thought I’d share some of my takeaways from the last month and a half…

1. Cricket + Social Media = Party!

There is simply no better way to watch a big sporting event like the World Cup, than in the company of virtual friends on Facebook and/or Twitter. Nothing like celebrating success (or mourn failure) in the company of other people. Sure, it’s not a real party, but it gets all your cricket loving friends, and their various personalities all in one place. Try doing that in real life!

2. All Streaks Must End

Nothing, I mean absolutely nothing lasts for ever; not even Roger Federer’s incredible run of 23 straight grand slam semi-finals. So, it was no surprise that Australia’s 34 match win streak in World Cups finally came to an end too. Ironically, it came at the hands of the last team to have beaten them in 1992 – Pakistan.

3. All Dynasties Will Eventually Fall

Australia, winning four of the last five championships, and the last three in a row, had been the most dominant team in World Cups and all of cricket the past two decades. However, like the ancient Romans or the Mings of history past, the NBA’s Chicago Bulls or NFL’s San Francisco 49ers, all dynasties are eventually destined to fall, and so did Australia’s. Interestingly enough, they were done in by India who have quite the history of dethroning defending champions – The West Indies in ‘83 and Pakistan in ‘96.

4. You Are No Contender Until You’ve Won It Before

For years South Africa has been a world beating team of ultra talented players and they were one of the biggest contenders to win this World Cup, ahead of some former champions – India, Pakistan & Sri Lanka. However, much like on some other occasions, they’ve done nothing but falter and choke under pressure. It’s one thing to have great talent, but there is simply no substitute for the experience of winning it. Just go ask Andy Murray or Caroline Wozniacki. So, can we please stop anointing contenders and champions before they’ve actually won something?

5. India vs. Pakistan – The Greatest Rivalry In Cricket

The Ashes between Australia and England used to be the greatest rivalry in cricket. Not anymore! “There are billions of people, around the globe, watching this semi-final match between India and Pakistan” commented Wasim Akram, and I couldn’t agree with him more. It simply doesn’t matter what stage of a tournament these old foes meet, with the backdrop of political tensions, nothing even comes close to the excitement that these two teams bring about. This is without doubt the greatest rivalry in cricket, and will remain so for a long time.

6. The Rise Of Asia As A Cricketing Power

What better advertisement for Asia as the new cricketing power than the fact that India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh jointly hosted what was clearly a huge success of a World Cup. If that wasn’t enough by itself, three of the four semi-finalists were Asian teams – India, Sri Lanka and Pakistan – with the first two making the finals. If there was a shift in power happening before, I’d say it is now complete.

7. The Two Best Teams Contested The Final

It was only fitting that India & Sri Lanka faced off for the coveted World Cup, because clearly, they were the two best teams in the tournament. Sure there was the defending champion Australia, and the big contender South Africa, but neither of them did anything to prove that they belonged in the final. Both India & Sri Lanka lost only two matches between then, putting away all pretenders in their places, along the way.

8. India Is The New Cricketing Super-Power

With the Indian Premier League (IPL) already hugely popular, India was the place to be for cricket. Winning the World Cup puts it head and shoulders above all other nations as cricket’s unrivalled super-power! It remains to be seen how this World Cup translates to even more success. They certainly have my attention.

9. Even Super Heroes Need Help Sometimes

For years, Sachin Tendulkar, despite the burden of greatness that was thrust upon him, has almost single handedly been responsible for putting India atop the cricketing world, while becoming the greatest batsman the world has ever seen. There was however one big gaping hole in his resume… it was missing a World Cup. Wouldn’t it be simply fantastic if he could get his 100th international century in the final, taking India to the coveted cup? Dreams were dashed when the great man fell for a small score early in the Indian innings, but remarkably, the rest of the players made sure that India won the cup.

Virat Kohli, one of the stars of the new generation said “Sachin Tendulkar has carried Indian Cricket on his shoulders for 21 years. So, it was fitting that we carried him on our shoulders” It was as much a metaphor as it was real, as the great man was carried around the field on the shoulders of his teammates, young & old. Goes to show that even super heroes can’t do it all alone, all the time. Sometimes they need help to get it done!

10. Individuals Win Matches; Teams Win Championships

Go look at every team that has won the World Cup, and you’ll notice a common theme – they did it because everyone on the team contributed to the success. Sure, there have been individual successes that propel teams to match wins, but it takes a team working in unison, much like an orchestra, to win the big one. In the past – like the 2003 final – India has been guilty of depending too much on Tendulkar and the top order, falling away when then fail. The 2011 final was the perfect example of a solid team beating another solid team, proving once again that it takes team effort to win championships.

11. Talent + Belief = Champion

Despite showcasing the genius of Sachin Tendulkar, the destructive talent of Sehwag, and the enormously talented middle order, India faltered in the early going, settling for a tie with England and losing a nail-biter to the South Africans. They looked all wobbly getting to the quarterfinals, but to quote an oft used cliché, when the going got tough the tough got going as India surgically cut up Australia, Pakistan and finally Sri Lanka. So, was this team more talented than the ones from history past? Not at all. It’s amazing what belief can do to a team, and it was all too clear that India, as a team, believed that they could pull this off – something South Africa could do well to apply to their next campaign.

12. Dhoni: From Captain To Leader

Much of the credit for the belief has to go to India’s captain MS Dhoni and their coach Gary Kirsten. It’s fairly easy to captain a team when things are going just right, but the challenge is when things go wrong. That’s when the team looks up to the captain for tough decisions, direction and reassurance, and often times the expression on the captain’s face could well be the difference between winning and losing.

What impressed me most about Dhoni was how he absorbed all the pressure and was willing to face it head on, so his team didn’t have to. Calling his own name when the chips were down, going up the batting order ahead of an in-form Yuvraj Singh, took a lot of guts. What better way to silence all your critics than to play the innings of a lifetime, while shouldering the responsibility of the team and the expectation of a million people? MS Dhoni, in my opinion, has gone from captain to a bona-fide leader, joining the company of the likes of Kapil Dev, Imran Khan, Allan Border & Arjuna Ranatunga.

13. Good Things Come To Those Who Wait

Most all Indians – players and fans alike – wanted  this World Cup win for their country, but it’s safe to say that most fans of Tendulkar wanted him to go off into the sunset with that feather in his cap. You couldn’t have blamed the little man if he had decided to hang up his boots after 18 years and 5 World Cups worth of futility, could you? What a great move (or non-move should I say) it turned out to be, winning in what is almost surely his last World Cup. They said Sampras should’ve retired, but he hung around just long enough to win another big one.

14. 2011 != 1983

India becomes only the third team, after the West Indies and Australia to have won two World Cups. Winning multiple championships however, bring about comparisons, and I’ll admit that I did it myself. The first thought that struck me was that 2011 > 1983, simply because the pressure of expectations was much higher, they had to take out three former champions along the way, and they did it chasing a large total. The next day however, I realized that I did no justice to the ‘83 team, who not only showed the resilience and the belief to be a champion, but also had the gall to stand up and show the world how to beat the great West Indies. So, can we simply accept that the two championship teams are simply different, and celebrate them both?

15. Finally…. Go With Your Gut!

Okay, I threw this in there so I could gloat. So sue me! A month and a half ago, I had this to say on my Facebook status…

“28 years ago, as complete underdogs, India stunned the cricketing world, winning the ICC World Cup beating the odds on favorite, the mighty West Indies. This time around they are no underdogs, neither are they the huge favorites to win it, but I’ll go on record and call it… you heard it here first… India win their second ever World Cup and send the little maestro off into the sunset, in style!”

I also added…

“This has a lot more to do than faith and hope. There is something about this team that evokes a sense of destiny. Can’t quite put my finger on it, but call it a gut feeling, the same kind that made me call the 2007 SB for the Giants, and this years’ SB for the Packers!”

Dumb luck? Three separate times? Or is there something else at work here? More people believed – not hoped, mind you – that India would win it this time. Perhaps, there is such a thing as “collective consciousness”, a term that French Sociologist Emile Durkheim coined, referring to the shared beliefs which operate as a unifying source within society. May I have simply managed to tap into that collective consciousness? With all that noise of logical thinking and analysis that our minds do, we drown out that little voice in our gut. Sometimes we need to listen to it and go with what it says!