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Man in Space Vs Man on the Moon - A Comparison

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Space flight and the manned moon landing are two of the biggest scientific achievements of mankind. However, the moon landing has had a shroud of suspicion around it for many years, with people calling it a hoax and conspiracy theorists analyzing every microscopic detail of man’s first steps on the moon to try to establish that it never happened. Whatever the truth regarding the moon landing be, it is definitely one small step for man and one giant leap for mankind that I have always struggled to comprehend….. Let me take you through the facts as we know, and explain why I find it hard to digest…… The first manned space flight took place in 1961 when Russian cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin orbited the earth.  The moon landing took place, just a few years later, in 1969, when supposedly Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin landed on the moon, walked around the surface of the moon and returned safely back to earth. The US had six crewed moon landings in quick succession from 1969 to 1972, but none sin
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Mahaveeryar Malayalam Film Review - A Promising Experiment Gone Terribly Wrong

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Spoiler Alert : Details of the climax are revealed below, so if you don’t want spoilers, please don’t read. I avoid writing bad reviews for films, because whether or not I liked the movie, it involves the hard work of a lot of people.  So when I do end up writing a bad review, then something about the film, usually its plot, has enraged me to the extent that I need to respond. Mahaveeryar is one such film. With two of Malayalam’s favorite actors, Nivin Pauly and Asif Ali in the lead, both of whom have given us some wonderful movies to cherish, I had high hopes for this film. The work of director Abrid Shine in the past has also been promising.  This movie is an attempt at an experimental storytelling method that uses satire to poke fun at societal structure. The trailer promised a courtroom drama intertwined with intriguing elements of a mythological story involving time travel. And the first half of the movie did live up to the hype. It was funny, entertaining and also managed to gene
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Glorification of Sexual Assault - Adrian Brody Kisses Halle Berry at the Oscars

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It was a March evening in the year 2003. The 75th Annual Academy Awards were on TV and Halle Berry had just stepped up to announce the Oscar for Best Actor. “And the Oscar goes to….”, after the familiar pause, she said, “Adrian Brody!” Uproarious applause exploded and the camera followed Adrian Brody as he walked onto stage and towards Berry. But instead of the usual quick hug and peck on the cheek, Brody grabbed Halle Berry, dipped her, and gave her a passionate kiss on her lips that lasted a good 6 seconds!! I was shocked enough to bolt to an upright seating position from my usual reclining one on the couch. Did I just see Halle Berry get sexually assaulted in front of millions of people? But everyone else on screen seemed unfazed. Berry, who was the wife of Eric Benet at the time, played along, and after Brody let her out of his tight embrace, she laughed and acted like whatever happened was perfectly fine, even though her body language and facial expression betrayed her displeasure
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Bill Cosby Walks Free - a Sad, Infuriating day for Sexual Assault Victims

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“Finally!! A terrible wrong is being righted - a miscarriage of justice is corrected!” so read Phylicia Rashad’s tweet today. Ms. Rashad, known around the world as the smart and poised Claire Huxtable from “The Bill Cosby Show” was reacting to the news that her costar and convicted sex offender, Bill Cosby’s guilty verdict has been overturned and that he is being released from prison.  What Ms. Rashad fails to comprehend or give a f@$# about is the fact that Cosby’s verdict is not being overturned because he has been found innocent, but rather because of a technicality in the judicial system that disallows the use of some of his own incriminating testimony, to be used to obtain a conviction. None of this changes the fact that Cosby is guilty of assaulting multiple women. Sixty women have accused Bill Cosby of rape and other sexual misconduct, spanning a course of over forty years (from 1965 to 2008 according to Wikipedia). What about justice for them?!! What about the wrongs committed
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Arranged Marriages and Dowry - When Marriage becomes more about Money than Love

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Daughters are referred to as “ paraaya dhan ” in Hindi, which translates to “someone else’s wealth”, because according to Indian culture, a girl’s parents are merely her temporary caretakers until she’s ready to be handed over to her “permanent” or “real” family - that of her in-laws. When an Indian woman is married, it’s implied that she ceases to become a member of her own family and joins her husband’s family. Traditionally, she will live in her husband’s home, with his parents, where she will cook, clean and take care of the elderly and children in the family for the rest of her life.  If there is any monetary exchange between the families in such a situation, anyone with half a brain would assume that it would be from the groom’s family to the bride’s, for handing over the daughter they raised. But it baffles my mind that in the Indian society, it’s the other way around. In addition to a beautiful, smart, and educated woman, the groom’s family are also given an enormous amount of
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Spectacular Sidhique Steals the Show in Mohan Kumar Fans - Malayalam Movie Review

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If you are looking for a feel good movie to lift your spirits amidst the covid pandemic, look no further than Jis Joy’s latest film, Mohan Kumar Fans. The film revolves around Mohan Kumar, a washed up movie star who is attempting a comeback after thirty years. The heart and soul of the film is undoubtedly, veteran actor Sidhique, who gives an incredible performance as Mohan Kumar.  Kunchako Boban plays the role of Krishnanunni, an aspiring singer as well as an ardent fan of Mohan Kumar, who comes into the lives of the actor and his daughter in the form of a driver. He connects with Mohan Kumar’s daughter, played by newcomer, Anarkali Nazar, as they are both aspiring singers competing together on a TV show.  Most of the laughs in this film come thanks to Vinay Fort, who shows off his comedic skills convincingly as an attention-seeking, full-of-himself young movie star. His antics like changing his name from Krupesh to Agosh Kumar because people were calling him by the nickname, “Kapeesh
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Location: Kerala, India
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My Life at Thiruvananthapuram Women's College

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"Women’s college-il admission kittalle” (please don’t let me get admission to Women's college), I prayed during my SSLC (10th grade) days.  When friends talked about all the freedom they would enjoy in college, and made fun plans like cutting classes and going to movies, I knew that the only way I could enjoy college life was if I didn't go to Women's. "What was at Women's?" you may ask - but it was more of a "who" that was at Women's - my mother!! My Mom was a professor at the Maharaja’s College for Women in Thiruvananthapuram, popularly known as Women's college, at the time, and I knew that I would never be able to have any fun under her nose.  But of course, my prayers went unanswered and I ended up at Women’s for PDC (11th and 12th)!! The first class on my first day at Women’s was Physics. The professor, Jayaprakash sir walked into the class, greeted everyone and then asked, "Who is Deepthi?"  I slowly stood up, wondering w
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Location: Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, India
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