Friday, September 22, 2006
Living and Working in Jamnagar
The Cast!
BB Gupta - Also know As (AKA) 'Gupta the Grinner' - Always a smile for all. Works as the Electrical Lead Engineer on the project...
Chander Verma - AKA 'Verma the Vegetarian'. Chander has decided to become vegetarian while in Jamnagar. Chander is the Piping Lead Engineer on the project.
Arun Dave (pronounced Daah Vee). AKA 'Dave the Dangerous'. Drop by his room and he may mix you a dangerous concoction. Arun is the Lead Control Systems Engineer.
Dave Williams (pronounced Dave - Sorry had to do it). AKA 'William the Wanderer'. Dave likes to wander around the site and find things to trip over. Dave is the Safety Engineer on the project.
Andrew Coward. AKA 'Coward the Brave (I should be ashamed)'. Andrew became brave defending his last name. Andrew is the Process Engineer on the project.
Gavin Taylor. AKA 'Taylor the Taylor(again my apologies)'. So known because he will taylor your equipment to meet your specifications. Gavin is the Lead Mechancial Engineer on project.
Charles Wheat. AKA 'Charles the Charming' Knowing for his rapier wit, charming personality, and extremely good looks (hey it's my blog and I can lie if I want). Chuck is the IT Manager on the project.
Mike Alaka. AKA 'Mike the Magician'. So known because he magically showed up at Reliance one day. No one knows what he does or why he is here so we sympathetically tolerate his presence. Mike is the ranking Bechtel Official on site working in Construction.
The guest quarters at the Greens is very nice. I would equate it to a 4 star hotel. Shown below is the dining hall. Each night the Chefs prepare a varity of Indian food and western food. Both are equally good. You can order special meals if desired. On many occasions we have had gatherings there and requested a banquet and they have accomodated us with excellent service and food.
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Housing at the VIP Guest House
One of the rooms in the housing (excuse the laundry). A few of them have a shared terrace (below).
Hallways and rooms have marble floors.
We also have a very nice 'Central Park' in the Township.
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PARTY TIME
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First event - Recently (Saturday September 16th) I had arranged a BBQ for all the folks on assignment in Jamnagar. It was a good event despite the pouring rain and heavey thunder. The Reliance Guest House Chefs prepared a great meal BBQing under the carport (we can repair the damage later)... The original intent was to raid Carl Lakes refridgirator of the food he left behind and BBQ it on the grill he left behind. Mike Alaka asked to arrange things with the Manager of the Guest House Restaurant. I told him what I wanted but they had their own idea of what a BBQ was (not better, not worse, just different - and very good I might add). I was expecting to prepare and cook the meal myself but they had other ideas (made the whole event so simple we will do it again).
The Grill
We have had several BBQ's and cookouts in the last couple of months. The Reliance Staff does an excellent job of putting them together.As long as I live I will never be able to pronounce the name of the food in the BBQ (that is the round thing with coals at the bottom the chef is standing by) but it was a vegtable, it was spicy, and it was good! They also prepared fish, chicken breasts, and steaks on the grill (the flat thing next to the round one)... 
The final product was asetically sound and delicious...
There were plenty of different sauces to accompany the food as well as a variety of breads and side dishes.
Everyone had their fill and a good time was had by all.
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Local Holiday
Recently the nationals celebrated a local holiday. The festivities included hundreds of people meeting at the civic center playing fields and dancing. All the women and men dance in separate lines and go around the mini-temple set up in the center of the field. Very impressive to wittness.
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Reliance provided a band.
Even the children had a great time!
