With the British Library completing its 50th year in Pune,the new director for the British Council,West India,Samantha Harvey was in town for the celebrations. Only her second time in India,Harvey talks about her experiences and new responsibilities. The first time I was in India,I only visited Delhi and parts of Rajasthan. With India being so big and diverse,I can honestly say that western India is something that I have never seen before, she says. Harvey has spent much of her career in foreign locations. Starting off with a stint in Palestine and Gaza,she then moved on to Egypt for five years,before spending another five years in Nigeria. Currently only two months old at her job in India,Harvey,who is based in Mumbai,has Pune and Ahmedabad under her jurisdiction. She says,India is one of the most important countries for the British Council,and that is reflected in the fact that we are already celebrating our golden anniversary in Pune. However,Harvey has more plans for the library. We did some market research. We have a great team here and our customer base is growing more people are using our library. I am very impressed with what I have seen here. I have seen that the library is clearly a highly valued resource; in fact,it has become a part of the Puneri life. So now,we are thinking of transforming our library into a cultural centre. Harvey's plans,still in their nascent stage,include English language training and a range of other programmes. However,she doesn't expect anything to be finalised before the next two years. Revealing a little of what she has in mind,Harvey says,We plan to have a flexible approach to teaching English,but we will be open to suggestions and will try to base it as much as possible on feedback. Harvey also talked about the educational aspects of the British Council. Pune is a fast growing city,and over the past few years,the number of educational institutes has grown exponentially. By associating ourselves with some of these institutes,we are looking to organise some exchange programmes with institutes in the UK. After all,we are staunch believers in the exchange of ideas we feel students in the UK have as much to learn from India as Indian students have from the UK. On a lighter note,Harvey surprisingly doesn't have any favourite author. However,I do have two favourite books Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austin and Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh, she smiles.
