THE POWER OF TWO

THE POWER OF TWO

Quick, what is the opposite of single? Double, multiple or halved? As you muse, the couple imagery only gets stronger. In ads and films, songs and stories, a pair - mostly hetero — is a must. Seldom do we depart from this numerical comfort of two. Everything is a twin-set. A couple marries, sleeps on a double-bed, has two children, drives two cars, lives in a two-bedroom house with two balconies and bathrooms two. But if going solo, conditions apply. Of course, this is not to take away from the practicality of the figure '2'. An heir and a spare has been mankind's most treasured example of common sense. This works not just with royalty, but with body parts (a wooden leg or an eye-patch is cool only on a pirate, and that too in Asterix comics), email accounts (one is hacked, hey, you still have another), movie sequels (for every Hangover 2, there is the return of a very watchable Kung Fu Panda) or plastic surgery (nobody stops with one procedure, ask Rakhi). Monochrome, uni dimensional, single entendres — nobody talks of these. The world is full of the opposite: unlimited offers, revolving doors, forwarded jokes, eternal options and a second pizza free with the first. Everyone and everything has a companion: soups and starters, Johri and Son, boy meets girl, flight with a stopover, the world and its aunt. And so tuned are we to this duet of two is company, it has to be a table for two, a sight for sore eyes and ticket that is both ways, up and down. While showing one finger evokes ambivalent feelings, two fingers signify victory, peace and all things positive. We see all with two eyes, are more mobile with two legs, land on two feet, twiddle two thumbs, sneer by raising both eyebrows, clap louder with two palms, sport double chins and, being no amoeba, breed successfully only in close conjunction with another human being. Insurance sellers prey on precisely this fear of being decimated, of dwindling from two to one. You need a minimum two to elope, make a suicide pact, fall in love, laugh at someone, attend a lecture, chat on Facebook, get a divorce or commit a murder — one to kill and one to die. In our old black and white films, it was always two flowers — two! — that brushed against each other to give audiences goose bumps in the pre-porn days. Even none is preferable to one. Hence, size zero. Despite singles multiplying and couples divorcing all around us, we still deem a duo as ideal. A single bed, one-room apartment, only child, single-malt whiskey, singleton… God, what a bunch of losers! Who doesn't want two of most things — girlfriends, bungalows, vehicles, servants, salaries and seaside vacations? The only time single is made to sound okay is when they need your kidney. One will work just as fine as two, they say as they take one out gently. For all other purposes, double is desirable.