Most Interesting Interview Guests

L-R: Javed Akhtar, Salman Rushdie and Bill Clinton

Some like it, others can't stand the apparent tedium of having to listen without any interjection. But I like to listen to the few I admire because of their sheer audacity to ride against the tide to represent humanity.  Here is a list of quadruplet of my favorite interviewees (in order)! I prescribe listening to them!

1. Neil deGrasse Tyson (American Astrophysicist, and Science Communicator) 
Neil is one of those personalities you have to listen to believe they exist. His sheer devotion to perpetuation of science and rejection of baseless faiths transmitted in public speeches through his splaying arms and powerful cadence in voice is like watching a progressive witchcraft.  His hawk eye vision in detecting even the minutest of betrayals to science, his first and only love, is one of the very few ways his love for the field manifests itself.  Only passion can explain Tyson's willingness to answer audience's questions with equal vehemence that he exuded in the actual lecture.

2. Javed Akhtar (Indian poet, lyricist, screenwriter and activist) 
If you want an interlocutor who is going to win the argument for you, Akhtar is your man. Co-writer of many blockbuster films of 70s and 80s and countless songs and poems, Akhtar has used his starlight to raise voice against many social evils in India, from class warfare to restriction on freedom of expression.  His memory, smart sense of humor and blunt attack on conservatism allows him to top the list of most interesting interviewees.  And  of course, he's an atheist!

3. Naseeruddin Shah (Indian film and theater actor) 
Shah is probably one of the finest actors to hit Indian screen ever.  Regarded as the superstar of parallel cinema, he has "crossed over" to western shores at several points.  But he is angry! Shah has never shied away from bludgeoning the indiscipline in Indian cinema, shoddy scripts of bollywood and communalists.  But things get really tasty when he takes names without any regards to sharp criticism and unnecessary controversies he ends up attracting.  His friends may be few but the man's respected!

4. Bill Clinton (42nd US President and activist) 
When he talks, you listen. Even if you don't understand a word of it. One of the most notable ex-politicians alive, Clinton never loses his cool demeanor and cadence even in the fieriest of political melodrama.  One of the few guys who seem to be experts in just about everything, Clinton's magic, in fact, is not entirely in the content but also in the style of it.  His interviewers can seldom gauge the width of his knowledge spectrum but even if they have some idea, it is never enough to refute this smooth ex-President.  All in all, if Clinton told you that you don't exist, you will probably not question it!

5. Salman Rushdie (British Indian novelist) 
Late Christopher Hitchens described Rushdie as "the wittiest user of the English language" and I think that sums it all.  Listening to Rushdie is like experiencing an interlocutory poet  playing with words just like a Jazz musician who makes riffs for the sheer joy of the sound it creates.  Unfortunately, unless there is an outburst in public rage concerning Islam or his book "The Satanic Verses" surfaces, Rushdie, an atheist, is seldom called to speak on other widespread issues.  It's a shame that one book that forced him into hiding for a decade has shadowed some of his less known but equal, if not greater, masterpieces.

People who just missed the list (or maybe they are all number 6!)... 
Richard Dawkins, Late Christopher Hitchens.