End of WPF training in Pune / Visit to Kolkata, India

Ending the WPF training in Pune

The WPF training in Pune, India went great. We finished on time, I spent the last afternoon showing various resources and demonstrating how to create a basic Silverlight application, as well as make Silverlight videos. This is not strictly speaking in the scope of the training, but with the WPF background acquired during these 3 days, moving on to Silverlight is really easy, and really motivating too.

After Pune, and after a very nice dinner with Nikhil, the indian team's manager, I went back to the hotel and packed, for I was to wake up at 5:15 the next morning, and fly to Kolkata!

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Visit to Kolkata (part 1)

I have been a member of a small swiss NGO named Calcutta-Espoir for quite some time now. The projects we support are mainly those of Calcutta Rescue, an association by Indian right founded by Dr Jack Preger more than 25 years ago. Today, with clinics and schools and an row of additional projects, Calcutta Rescue offers its services to homeless patients and children.

After a very early wake-up call and the 6 o'clock shuttle to Pune airport, I took a Kingfisher flight to Kolkata through Ahmedabad. The flight was very good and we didn't experience any problems, in spite of the rain. In fact, I reached Kolkata 30 minutes before the planned landing time!! At the airport, I was picked up by Frédérique, a swiss volunteer pharmacist spending 9 months in the projects. We took the Calcutta Rescue jeep back to the guest house where most of our volunteers are staying, where I rented a room for the night (350 rupees for one night, not bad :-).

Once settled in, we walked to a nearby restaurant for a quick lunch, and then to Calcutta Rescue's offices. Reaching the doorstep was the occasion to give me a "monsoon baptism", walking in dirty water up to my knees :-) In the office, I met the personal as well as Dr Bobby, the administrator. We had a great chat, discussing various points and making sure once again that we are on the same wavelength. It was really nice to have a face-to-face chat instead of the usual emails.

After that, we went back to the guest house, where I got a quick shower, before spending some time with the volunteers waiting for an hypothetic cyclone announced by word on the street. In fact, it was not a cyclone, just heavy rains, so we eventually walked to a restaurant not far, where we all had a very nice dinner and great talks. A few hours later, we all went back and I got a good night's sleep.

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