life fuzzified

                                                                                  
As a kid tottering with a bag  and a lunch box to my kindergarden, i remember being asked if  i am a good or bad girl.I was then told I am good if i finish my lunch  .Not wanting to be called bad, i would quickly gobble my lunch down.The other day, my friend asked me conversationally if she was good or bad.Queer, I thought and smiled to myself. What  exactly is 'good' and 'bad'?
    There are fundamentally two kinds of logic, that can be applied to define life, the people and happenings in it, with respect to a person-binary and fuzzy.Binary logic was proposed by one of the greatest thinkers of all times,Aristotle.It essentially is about solving a problem, by writing it as a series of simple questions which can be answered by a yes or no (logical 1 or 0) and  thus , we systematically  arrive at the solution.This is the most primitive form of logic, that has from then on been incorporated everywhere from one's personal life to technology, which is in a way all that materialistically satisfies human needs and sophisticates our lives.
   Some of the greatest advancements in engineering are all based on binary logic.Digital electronics, the foundation to all processors that make the hi- tech computers of today and control systems, an integral part of every unit in an industry, an appliance or electronic gadget (on-off controllers) are derivatives of this.
  In our life also, we like some people while we stay away from a few others.We are 'pro' or 'anti' a certain issu or cause.Even our religions preach us something along similar lines(God and satan, devas and rakshasas).But how often is it that we feel ,we definitely do not loathe a person but are not particulaly fond of either?This conception of a certain event or person as not completely positive or negative(1 or 0) is fuzzy logic.For classifying any event on the basis of a set of parameters, we rate it for each of these parameters in values ranging from 0 to 1.Today, this is one of the most sought-after areas of instrumentation, but lets look at it from a different perspective.
  The first time I consciously started thinking about this was when reading a fantasy fiction (Simoquin Prophecies, by Samit Basu).A line from the book goes this way,"There is nothing that is truly, completely evil or good".The father says this to his son( a skilled magician) who was actually in pursuit of the king of rakshas to defeat him,only to realise that, that is none other than his own father, who he had known as the great warrior his mother, crown princess of the noblest magical clan had fallen in love with in the woods.The line struck a chord with me.It made such an impact on me that i almost completely discarded binary logic from my life.
  The people i thought were vile i realised, were not'bad' after all.It was just that our outlook of life was not the same.They were not after all devoid of human company;likewise, the ones i am fond of need not be loved by all others, be it my favourite actor, literary work or  song.
Why, the ploy of the devas to distract sage Vishwamithra by sending  the apsara Menaka, to prevent him from proclaiming his status as Brahmarishi(the king of rishis and thus a king) can also be subjected to contention on moral grounds.While I might despise a terrorist and see him as  an embodiment of evil thoughts, hell bent on  disrupting a peaceful, harmonious society, there are still staunch supporters of him and his ideals
  While this logic does not really help me to obviate the world of such vicissitudes, at a personal level it  helps me stay aloof from a considerable amount of perturbance, angst and confusion.I now see the world with a fuzzy eye and no longer find black and white, but instead innumerable shades of gray, and believe me, it really helps.