As the year passes by…

As you read something that interests you, do you ever feel that you’d like to pause and visit again later? To retrace your steps and savor every word?

I’ve written quite a bit at this blog in 2011. I’ve read millions of words more. I have a hard time holding on to some of the pearls in the constant tidal wave of information that inundates me on a daily basis. Being able to mark links on Twitter has definitely made it a lot easier. Using links that I’ve tweeted or retweeted, and predominantly, for my own sake, I’ve decided to post links to some of the outstanding content I’ve read this year.

Depending on interest and time, I may post links to other types of content – news, travelogues, humor columns, science, current affairs, and sports,  but the first set of pieces I’d like to highlight focus on deeply personal experiences. Each of the links below is to an essay, column, blogpost, or poem which has made me think for a bit. (There is even a commencement address written by a famous luminary who you might either admire or loathe). Not all were written in 2011. Not all will be to your liking. But they’re quite introspective. And they’re full of feeling.

This is not a “best-of” list. This is not a “must-read” list. I have no delusions of literary talent or archival skills. If I read your personal post and failed to cite it, blame my failing memory. (You’ll notice that most of the content is skewed towards the end of the year and for that simple reason).

So here goes…

1. Moving account of a son coming to grips with his father’s alcoholism http://t.co/GMzOms0W
2. Someone… who is permanently offline http://t.co/hNshY6yq
3. “We came back to India, instead, because we needed fixing.” http://t.co/a49zXX5q
4. “There are lots of things to see, unwrapped gifts and free surprises…” http://t.co/BnC9zAQa
5. An All-American Bakhr-Eid http://t.co/p0pa2CP2
6. “”It’s as Amreekan as turkey and chicken khorma.”  http://t.co/F3AdApTT
7. “Eighteen years of education lost to the perspective of a three year-old.” http://bit.ly/shkcAC
8. “Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish.” http://t.co/iqcUBVWC
9. “The Price of Oranges.” http://j.mp/pqFJ9L
10. “Let me breathe it in an ear that will never be formed, so that it can be known by a mind that will never know memory.” http://t.co/8dTmAfT
11. The baton passes. And how! http://bit.ly/sMm1Db
12. A father writes to a son during the anti-Sikh pogroms of 1984. http://t.co/MmmYZDY2
13. On permanently being in college. http://bit.ly/tiqk5a
14. Note to self: http://bit.ly/vp3Sa8
15. “…of the temporal distance between known and unknown.” http://bit.ly/w3i1Nt
16. “It’s probably a merciful thing that pain is impossible to describe from memory.” http://t.co/c2HgubPP
17. Poem: On living with a severely-autistic daughter. http://t.co/O66BTXrR
18. “Some knitted, some read the day’s paper, some were lost in a siesta under blankets put out in the sun.” http://bit.ly/rHXVNs
19. Poem: Thirty-one. http://bit.ly/t7J8Kg
20. Poem: The monument. http://t.co/9vxK9jU

Obviously, I take no credit for writing (or even discovering) any of these pieces. They’re damn good ones, all the same.