Remember the svelte, stylish lass who breezed into Mollywood like a whiff of fresh air and breezed out as quickly as she had rushed in? Pooja Batra, former model, and Miss India, obviously has better stuff on her mind, like travelling the world over, doing yoga, and learning the ropes of martial arts, rather than donning greasepaint. She is one busy lady today and has little time for celluloid pursuits.
So what is Batra back in the news for? A few fetching pictures that Mohanlal and Mammootty's former lead lady shared on Instagram on the occasion of World Environment Day, seem to have brought her back to social media centre stage.
One of them shows the tall Pooja Batra happily atop the famous Kjeragbolten boulder, a huge tourist draw in Norway's Rogaland county. The other has her chilling out on Trolltunga, Norway's most famous tourist show piece.
The beauty of the pictures of course lies in the sheer drop of the spots where Batra flaunts her bravado. The Kjeragbolten boulder stands suspended above a 3,228 ft abyss, while Trolltunga, or Troll Tongue, which juts out into the sea from the mountains, stands 3,600 ft above sea level.
Norway is a tourist’s dream destination. Not everybody has the luck to fly out and grab a selfie or two atop Trolltunga and drink in the beauty of the place. But for those who have watched the Tamil movie Ko, the place could be pretty familiar with actors Jiiva and Karthika bringing it alive with their romantic song "amali thumali neliyum valley" pictured on it.
A trip to Trolltunga will always be one for keeps. The piece of land that sticks out like a tongue is in Norway's Vestland county and is on the north side of the lake Ringedalsvatnet. A hot tourist selfie spot, Trolltunga will never disappoint.
Trolltunga is a 27-km round trip from the village of Skeggedal and a hiker's idea of adventure. The cliff was formed during the Ice Age, more than 10,000 years ago when the edges of the mountain reached the cliff. The water from the glacier froze into the mountain and their heaviness caused large chunks of blocks to fall off from it leaving the tongue-shaped piece of rock to stick out into the sea below.
By 2012, fewer than 800 hikers chose to go up. However, tourist arrivals started peaking and in 2016, more than 80,000 people had hiked up. Today, Trolltunga, is Norway's most-loved tourist hotspot.
However, the hike up and down can be a tad too taxing. It's a solid 12-hour trip to complete the round trip. Tourist arrivals peak during the summer months. But rain or shine, the sudden swirls of thick mist and fog can be a threat to visibility. On average, 50 people every year, meet with mishaps while on the hike.
When it rains, which usually happens, the mud and sand carried by the constant flow of tourists make the path up slushy and difficult to navigate.
But a journey to Norway and the trip up is worth all the travails when one is caught by the breathtaking panoramic vision that spreads around and down the Hardangerfjord. With its majestic glaciers, placid waters, waterfalls that crash down from the mountains, and mist-covered canopy, the place is indeed an out of this world experience.
