I am Harshwardhan Kadepurkar, from India. But call me Harsh, that will be easy for you all. (The middle 'a' is not 'a' as in 'hard', but 'a' as in 'account'). I did my M.A. in India and a little later a PG Diploma in the Teaching of English. Much later (that was in 1995-96) the Hornby Trust gave me a long time study award for higher studies in Britain. I did my M.Phil. from Bristol. Back home, I resumed my work in the college and continued working for the State Board. More about it later...

I am based in the city of Nasik, Maharashtra State, India. Nasik is about 190 kms away from Mumbai. It is a holy city, with a large number of temples. It's believed that Lord Ram with his wife Sita and brother Laxman stayed in this city for some time. The river Godavari, again believed to be a holy river, flows through the city. Well, if you are planning a pilgrimage, you are welcome here. It is believed that a dip in the river is enough to wash off all the sins! Particularly, the sins of teaching!

I work in a post graduate college. I have also been working for the State Board as Convener of the Board of Studies in English. This is an Honorary position. But it keeps me on toes all the time. Whatever little I have been able to achieve is due to this work. I am responsible for developing and implementing the curriculum of English for the classes IX to XII. The numbers involved are alarming. We have about 1.5 million students at Class X and about 1 million at Class XII, who study English as a compulsory subject. There are thousands of teachers of English.

My normal working day starts at 9.30 and ends at about 5.30 in the evening. By the way I have also been working as Principal of my college. It means a lot of administrative work. But when I am not in the college, I am still working! That is for the State Board!

I have worked in the same institution for all these years.

I have been involved in very interesting language development projects for a long time now. As Convener of the Board I have to play a key role. The work involves designing new syllabuses, preparing course materials (course books, teachers' handbooks, training modules, etc), organizing inservice training programmes. offering ongoing support to teachers and so on. Working with and for thousands of teachers and millions of students in itself is interesting and exciting!

I have been looking forward to the day when I won't be working! I would love to do.. (the list is long, and I don't want to test your patience, which, I believe, I have already...)

I have a number of publications: a large number of Coursebooks in English, Teachers' handbooks, Books on Communication Skills and so on. I have also a small number of research papers published in International publications (for example, in 'Learning to Train' Edited by Ian McGrath, published by Prentice Hall Europe in association with the British Council 1997). I have also revised a bilingual dictionary.

That's all for now. If you want to know more--about my work and about me (I would love that) feel free to write. Of course I too will be free to decide whether to answer or not! You know I am writing this

You can also read my interview with the Teaching English Team. 

My mail-id is harshk@dataone.in

Harsh