Hoshang Merchant, nearly 70 now, has more energy than most his age. His silvery voice — even when he’s asking you if you've read every bit of the book you're about to interview him for — makes you wish he'd been your professor in college. Not only because he could make any text seem lighter even in a factory-assembled classroom, but because he brings context and experience to every turn the conversation takes.

Pic/Anand Ghose