Interview: Sopan Deb on 'Missed Translations' and Found Connections

It's Been a Minute

NPR

News, Religion & Spirituality, News Commentary, Spirituality, Society & Culture

4.7 • 9.2K Ratings

🗓️ 21 April 2020

⏱️ 24 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Sopan Deb lived under the same roof with both of his parents for most of his childhood, but never knew their ages or where they grew up or if they had any siblings. He didn't know much about them at all. He lived in a house of strangers, each going about their own lives, only briefly bumping into one another. It wasn't until Sopan turned 30 that he realized he was missing something and set out to reconnect with the family he never really understood.

Sam talks to Sopan about his journey of self-reflection, traveling to India to see his father and what he ultimately learned about his family and himself.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	You're listening to It's Been a Minute from NPR.
0:02.8	I'm Sam Sanders.
0:04.0	Soapan, hello.
0:04.9	Hi, how are you?
0:05.8	Sam, how are you, man?
0:07.1	Pretty good.
0:07.7	Pretty good.
0:08.4	Considering, you know, surviving.
0:10.2	I bet.
0:11.4	Yeah, it's a very unsettling time.
0:13.2	My guess today is Soapan Deb.
0:15.2	He writes about sports and culture for the New York Times.
0:18.1	And we actually met each other back in, like, 2015, 2016,
0:23.1	when we both were on the campaign trail with recovery,
0:25.4	a Trump rally.
0:26.5	That was 20 years ago.
0:27.9	Right?
0:29.0	Before I chat today, we talk about something
0:30.7	a bit more personal.
0:32.0	Since we last saw each other, Soapan wrote a memoir.
0:34.9	It is called Mist Translations,
0:36.9	a meeting the immigrant parents who raised me.
	...

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