Books, Books and more books..These days I clamour, yearn, beg or even steal for books. There are some books that make your day Lighter, some make it heavier and a few make the day Brighter. They make you think, they give you questions to answer, issues to ponder, while steering clear of prescribing anything. I prefer the later sort of books, that make you think, that give you issues to ponder, that throw more questions than they answer. I dream of getting immersed in a ocean of such books, eating, drinking and sleeping pages and pages of books. Is a book just a collection of pages? For me, when I read a book, the author speaks with me. I imagine him/her in person to speak with me, to tell me what he thinks of that particular topic. I imagine him to tell me his/her thoughts, to answer all my doubts, to preempt all my questions. One such book is the “Age of Paradox”by Charles Handy- a truly marvelous book. He gives you a set of 9 paradoxes- of Intelligence, Work, Productivity, Time, Riches, Organizations, Aging and Justice. The lat one of paradox- the paradox of Justice is extremely thought provoking. The book was written in 1994 and hence, all the other paradoxes had already become the part of today’s life. The paradoxical nature of the other issues are not as striking as the paradox of justice- which I as a child had grown believing is not a paradox. For me Justice had been ultimate with no grey area in between. I have grown believing Justice is universal. But now I think the paradox of justice would be an Eternal Paradox. Consider this: The justice can be both” Giving it, that is deserved” or “Giving it that is needed”. These two dictums, though seemingly obvious, are unfortunately not mutually exclusive. Had they been so, they wouldn’t have become paradox. Just because there can be a clash of two seemingly justifiable arguments, the decision of which one to choose would be morally taxing. For ex: Capitalism’s main dictate is to give what is deserved. This is a justice in that I get what I deserved. But does this mean that I shouldn’t get what I need but that I couldn’t deserve because of my inability to pursue? Does this mean that the needs are different for different people? But nature hasn’t made men like that. Fortunately or Unfortunately, all men has same needs(only our wants change). How will you reconcile between this two notions? Which one would be the justice to you? I am still pondering over it….