Monday, February 16, 2009

Chasing Aurora

After my last attempt at chasing Aurora in Tromso turned out to be in vain, I decided to give it another go. This time we decided to go to Alta instead. Alta is a city in Norway at 70 Deg N. Very close to being the northern most point in Mainland Norway. Quite a nice place to go to if you want to chase the Aurora Borealis. "Chasing" is quite the apt term here because even on a clear night, it is difficult to predict where the lights will appear and when they will. You might be watching the sky for hours and then go inside to get a hot cuppa, and viola it might have appeared and gone by the time you come back out again. Ofcourse, if the activity is quiote strong then it does stay for longer period of time and does appear quite powerfully.
Having spent a fortune on my last trip and possibly this time around too, we were quite cautious in choosing the correct timing for the trip and hoping for a good weather forecast and solar activity. Fortunately the weather turned out quite good and we had a clear sky, which means the temperature is really really low and it was mostly between -15 to -25 Deg C during the entire trip.
So we thought it would be best to rent a cabin outside of the city so we can lose the city lights and also rented a car from Rent-a-Wreck so we can just hop in and keep driving out in the winderness until we have a "Sweet Spot" where we get a clear view of the horizon and far far away from the city lights... It was worth it... After having spent few thousand kroners on both trips for the Aurora, Dog Sledging, Reindeer Sledging + Sami culture and Snowmobiling, I would say this was one of my best experiences of Norway...

More photos to come on my photo album....

Monday, February 02, 2009

Tribute to the legendary comedian - Nagesh

I feel a great deal of sadness reading the news about the demise of great comedian of yesteryear's - Thiru Nagesh. There is one thing about the likes of Goundamani, senthil, Vivek, Vadivelu... but I dont think I will ever like anyone better than Nagesh... Sometimes I feel comedy in today's Tamil movies is very crass and vulgar and completely meaningless... the level has declined... Its almost like the comical bits is completely off-track from the movie itself... they might as well have it as stand-up in between the actual story...
Nagesh's movies were class apart... There was a sarcasm and also meaning in his routines... I will miss it... The movies like "Server Sundaram", "Kaadhalika Neramillai", "Ethirneechal"(Maadipadi Maadhu poi maadiveetu Maadhu ayi), "Thiruvilayaadal"... the list goes on... May the Force be with you even in death... We will miss you... !!!