Nicholas Dirks, an eminent anthropologist and historian in South Asian studies, had moved from Michigan to New York in 1997 to chair the anthropology department at Columbia University. He was unpacking boxes on Aug. 15, the 50th anniversary of Indian independence, when he got a call asking him to come on the Charlie Rose show to talk about that momentous event. “I didn’t even know who Charlie Rose was,” says Dirks, now the chancellor at UC Berkeley, who was exhausted from unpacking and declined the offer, which he later regretted.