 There he became friendly with Edward Thompson who involved him in the abortive scheme to produce the 'Oxford Book of Bengali Verse'.In Madras, there was never a formal branch in the same sense as Bombay and Calcutta, as the management of the depot there seems to have rested in the hands of two local academics.OUP's interaction with this area was part of their mission to India, since many of their travellers took in East and South East Asia on their way out to or back from India.