Halves here and halves there

It’s already half past 10. Not much for a Sunday. Have been wasting time for nearly 2 and a half hours thinking of what to do for the rest of the day. And I have been just invited for a meet up. That was a long promised one. But didn’t want to make it now. Got it arranged  for the week after.  No much  rain like yesterday. It’s half gloomy and half sunny. I don’t understand these weather lingos. Let the weather men deal with it. Even the wind has its proportions today. Half cold and the other half feels hot.

Fractions are important concepts. Halves are equally important. When math is connected to real life there is so much to do with it. I remember early mornings and late evenings in Meerigama. During vacations spent in Meerigama at my cousin brother’s, I use to do groceries with him at the shop a few steps away. The grocery list says: 500ml fresh milk, another 500ml of coconut oil and half a dozen eggs. In this way I was taught 500 ml is half of one litre and half a dozen is always a half of a group of 12, which is 6.They are earliest of my memories about halves.

 Try making a cake. Infact most of the ingredients will be half of something. Imagine a cake with a gallon of milk, a pound of butter, a dozen eggs and an entire bag of chocolate chips. Either the cake will taste yucky or it can be as huge as high Olympus.

‘Half off’ signs thrill us a lot. You are pretty much going to scream about the deal you are going to receive. Half rated books, TV’s for   half price or a monthly rental reduced by half are things to be happy with. When phone bills, electricity bills and water bills are too much to pay at once, we tend to settle half of it and the rest to be paid later.

Half is good. Giving half of a chocolate to your friend or siblings will make them happy. A half of what you eat or drink shared with a street beggar will be always treasured. Half can be little. But it’s good to have at least half of anything than having nothing. Take simple things. Usually we tend to share half of a bed with another. Whether it’s your mistress, girlfriend, husband, wife daughter and what not, we sleep together because we are affectionate beings and not because it’s fiscally responsible. Lying side by side, we discuss situations,  talk about people  or places and plan for tomorrow in the confines of private chambers. We cuddle. We laugh. At the end of each day we remove the onerous cloaks we've

donned to face the world, and we want to do this lying next to our best friends, to know we’re not in it alone.

There are half girlfriends and half boyfriends. They could be friends you have asked out at a college fest or a friend who takes you on a movie ride .Then there are better halves. Better halves will never be forgotten. They are soul mates. The people who have been close to you in heart or partners who have served you the best in life. I am remembered of my grandmother and how she was taught to share pencils and erasers with siblings by breaking them into half. Those were days when spending money on each  family member was a difficult thing. And we still do it. We will break chalk into half, tare paper into half or cut an apple into halves when we want to share with another.

Sometimes the ‘half’ will determine or measure   directions you are heading in life. When   a person is in a bad relationship, one will say it’s half over. If newly married one might say its half started.

Half isn’t bad. Depends on how you look at it. Half –empty or half –full.



Courtesy : The Nation Newspaper  , 4th January 2015