I also wonder what degree of ego played into this.
Who does Harvard contact out of the blue? If they contacted me out of the blue by email my first thought would be "Why would they contact me-- who am I? What have I accomplished that I would be on the radar that people are talking about me at Harvard to the point where I am invited to interview?"
To me, that would be phishy-- Unless I was some award winning, well-published, and/or well-credentialed journalist.
- Looking on Amazon, I see 1 book by this author: "Left, Right and Centre: The Idea of India". I also see a blank LinkedIn page, which mentions she lives in India.
- On Wikipedia, I see she has " done documentaries from Pakistan-administered Kashmir, Tibet and the United Kingdom after the train bombings." and "has been the diplomatic correspondent of NDTV 24x7, which is an English language television channel that carries news and current affairs in India, owned by New Delhi Television Ltd network.": https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nidhi_Razdan
Those aren't trivial accomplishments. But I don't know that they represent the pinnacle of journalistic achievement to the degree that Harvard would reach out, out of the blue.