This 'middle' is inspired after reading a statement of a not-so-well known celebrity who said that thinking of marriage as the end of everything is 'middle-class mentality'. She has not taken the pains to go 'into the middle of things' but I do get the message that this term might mean old fashioned, narrow minded, and traditional type of thinking; qualities an educated, liberated, and broadminded person should abhor.

The word 'middle' means the point, position or part, which is at an equal distance from two or more points, or between the beginning and end. The midsummer and the midwinter are position of the sun in relation to the earth, at its apparently furthest point from the equator. We have the mid west as well as the mid land.

The Middle Ages is the period (in European history) from 1100 to 1500 A.D. known for feudalism and dark ages when land was held in absolute ownership and civil liberties were at the mercy of the lords. The respectable amongst us would not like to be called 'middlemen' but almost all of us need the services of a midwife. The middle class refers to the bourgeois, an urban person as distinct from an aristocrat, a peasant, or a proletarian. When we say he upholds middle class values, we often use it in a disparaging sense. Most of us have gone to middle schools.

Economics and Political Science lecturers have a passion for using terms containing 'middle'. Economics saar would tell with all feelings while explaining the economics of pricing and taxation that the 'middle class' is the worst affected section of the society. They are the ones who 'earn' their salaries, pay taxes, take loans to educate their children, buy a house, and marry off their daughters by which time they reach their 'middle' age. Political Science saar would say that a reasonably successful political figure should be careful to follow a 'middle-of-the-road' policy. He or she should never be clear about anything, be thoroughly ambivalent so that he or she can switch sides without losing face.

Moderates call themselves as seekers of the middle ground, meaning they are not extremists (a most despicable term after 9/11). They choose the most popular ideas or projects, rarely evaluate ideas and proposals, do not allocate time and money for the projects that are most likely to benefit the whole community and in the process become mediocre. Mid-day meal is a popular scheme of our governments. Authorities frown upon those who move about during mid-night.

The midgets in a circus delight us. The middle ear is the hollow space of the central part of the ear, in front of the eardrum, resonating membrane in the ear. The midriff is the abdomen while the middle finger is the longest of the five. Middle age is the period of life between youth and old age. When middle age sets in, a whole lot of mass add to our physical configuration. Body begins to 'grow' on certain fronts and backs causing unseemly looking ups and downs. Those who used to fire on both cylinders now feel as running out of gas. This disorients certain people who feel that they are in middling health.

The other day, I was experiencing delay in processing data. When I asked my buddy the cause, he told me that I was working on a middle-end computer and needed a high-end machine to get instant results. While cycle was considered a 'poor man's vehicle', two wheelers are tagged as vehicles for the middle-class. The top management condescends to classify some people (usually those who had been demanding better position and perks) as Middle Management whose job is to be a conduit pipe between the top management and the junior managements.

In cricket, the men-in-the-middle means the two batsmen out there batting. The middle order collapse sends alarm signals all around. Mid-on and mid-off are positions of the fielders near the bowler on the on and off sides.