Interviewed by Bharka Dutt, not quite India’s Oprah but one of its most prominent media personalities, the TV and print journalist impressed Oprah, who searched for a teleprompter, by conducting the introduction and full interview without notes.
After introducing Oprah as “the easily most loved and influential person on TV”, “with more credibility than any president or head of state” to a packed venue at JLF 2012, the first question Dutt asked was: “What struck you about India the most?” Oprah didn’t hesitate but thought of three things immediately: The first thing, while driving through Mumbai, was that it was “a bit chaotic” or “like being in a video game” as her goddaughter remarked, but that there was an “underlying calm and flow” that, as a foreigner, one just had to go with.
The second thing, she said, was “being in the city with more people than I ever encountered in my whole life. Yet, I wasn’t feeling unsafe; there is no rage”. She praised the genuine respect and karma she encountered. Commenting on the home altars in even the poorest of houses, she marveled: “People don’t just talk religion here, they live it.” The third thing she noticed was a sense of tradition. Far from having figured out a method to the madness though, Oprah asked: “What’s with the red light? Does it mean stop? Or is it just there for your entertainment?"
Oprah on Poverty as a 'Connector of Stories'
In regard to portraying India in her show, Oprah explained that she always had a broad perspective for it in mind. “I want to be a connector to the human heart space,” she said. It was important for her to go to the slums but not show the worst of the worst. “If you show somebody eating garbage, people cannot connect with it.” Instead, she portrays people living in poverty but making a living, something people can identify with. “I’m a connector of stories,” Oprah explained.
Asked about her own background growing up poor in Mississippi, she said: “You are who you are because of everything that ever happened to you. My great fortune was that I never was in a segregated school." She also credited her relationship with God that made her hold on and gave her a sense of belonging. “You can either see yourself as a wave in the ocean or the ocean. I always chose the ocean,” she said.
Oprah on Barack Obama and Arranged Marriage
Asked if she would endorse Barack Obama again, she said: “I’m so out of politics”, followed by “I already did”. Commenting on the mistakes that Obama’s critics hold against him, Oprah said: “He’s a man”, clarifying, as the audience started to chuckle: “And I mean this in the best possible sense. He’s a man, he’s not God. So he makes mistakes.” Without meaning to be over-confident, she added: “The next four years are going to be more successful.”
The conversation then steered toward marriage, with Oprah clarifying: “I never got married because I live in a country that allowed me the choice.” Thinking about the concept of arranged marriage that she encountered while meeting couples in India, she said she understood it now. Asked if she would consider it, she joked: “Am I not too old? I mean, isn’t there an age when you don’t qualify any more?” As a cheering audience proved, there isn’t.
India Opened Oprah's Mind and her Heart
Describing a recent street scene in Agra with an ox pulling a heavy cart and a woman wearing a sari, a big bindi and a helmet on a motorcycle, side by side, Oprah said with a smile: “I guess this is India. … You feel like you’re in the center of something bigger and greater than yourself… I had not only my mind opened but my heart as well.” The Taj Mahal impressed her and she remarked in awe about Shah Jahan’s devotion to his wife: “He reeeeaaally loved her!”
Barkha Dutt, jumping on the opportunity, quickly asked her if she would like a Taj Mahal for herself, to which Oprah answered that it would be unnecessary, followed by thunderous applause. She clarified: “I think my life has been the Taj Mahal.” The audience at the Jaipur Literature Festival, truly charmed, was further enthralled when Oprah, thinking about all the people she met from all walks of life during her short visit, promised to return, stating “I have to come back to tell the stories.”
Simone Preuss - Simone is a freelance writer, editor and translator who decided to go solo after a successful career in publishing. That was more than ...
