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Tandoor

Fixed the tandoor and the rear access door yesterday. I didn't carry my cam yesterday to the site and hence have no pix to post  - which is a shame actually. Many people would  be curious on how it is done... well I shall list the sequence on how to fix a tandoor here shortly. I did take a few pix of the tandoor this morning which is posted below.

As for the other civil works we have begun fixing the wall tiles and the plumbing work has also commenced in the kitchen. The interiors for the restaurant also started today. Have also confirmed the hiring of the Genset with Prasad and signed the agreement to this effect today, which should be erected in the next 10 days hopefully. The genset for us has been the best deal so far...yeah, well we have had a few great deals done...but the genset tops them all.

Tandoor:   It was Wednesday 31 May that we, The chef and I went to pick the tandoor... Potters town as it is called is located a little distance from cantonment station and Mosque road. You will find many potters displaying their wares here.

We needed two pots for our restaurant and had decided on a large girth and a medium sized one. We had visited potters town on instruction form a colleague  / friend of mine who works at the Windsor Manor. Spotted a nondescript house on the large alley showcasing a whole lot of wares...Pots of all shapes and sizes. We did a look about at the shops in the area to have a feel of what they had their tandoor pots priced at. Most shops had the clay ovens priced in the range from Rs 900 - 1500 per pot depending on the size.

We then moved to the shop we had the address for and our eyes fell on some very well displayed pots... we wanted 2 pots of size 2' 5" in girth and another for 2'. The color and the shape were of particular importance and we found the ones we were looking for. Those that we picked were burnt to a nice reddish brown tint and it didn't have and chipped ends or corners.

Negotiated with the owners for a flat fee to transport and install the same at site. Initially we had planned to pick up an extra tandoor just in case one of them gets damaged in transit. By negotiating for a total installation package we saved ourselves the burden of transporting the pots ourselves and then finding someone to install the same.

Tandoor installation  requires a level of expertise and the contents used to pack the same while building the oven depends on the clay used to make the pots and the demand / usage.

Our dimensions are
                          Length  - 70 "
                          Breadth  - 36"
                          Height   - 37"

Procedure for fixing

Its a brick and mortar job. Each standard sized mud brick is of the size 3" X 4" X 9".

Steps.

• Lay the base 36" X 70" with brick and cement
• Pack the base with cement to form a stable platform with uniform sized bricks.
• Raise the base platform to 2 brick level height.
• Rough plaster the entire area
• Carefully place the tandoor pots on top o the platform
• Leave a gap of  at least 8" ( two brick width from the side) while placing the pot.
• Ensure that there is a slight forward tilt to the oven. This i for ease of operation while baking breads
• The backs of the pots may be raised using wall tiles or other broken bricks. Make sure you give only a slight tilt to the front.
• The side walls with one brick width are raise uniformly on all the four sides
• The space this formed between the tandoor pot and the wall should be packed with packing materials
• There would be very little space in the front of the tandoor. this is because of the slight tilt to the front. This is ok.
•  Corse river sand is poured into the space between and then packed lightly using a thick wooden stump or any suitable material.
• Care to be taken as this can damage the tandoor is done carelessly.
• On top of the sand one layer of broken glass pieces are poured
• Sand is poured again and leveled followed by another layer of broken glass pieces.
• Dried brown mud is then put over this followed by another layer of glass sand and mud
• The top is then rough plastered leaving the mouth of the tandoor exposed.
• The base on the inside of the pot, which is actually open to the ground is plastered with cement. this is to ensure that any glass pieces that may have fallen inside gets covered and plastered by cement.
• The tandoor is then rough plastered on all sides
• This is left for a day or two with proper curing done once or twice every day.
• It is advised that this job is left to specialists to finish.

This is the rear door fixed yesterday and the partially finished tandoor
  

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  
A pretty neat job I guess. 

You will learn more on how to heat the tandoor initially when we do it shortly...

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About Bangalore

Here are some interesting facts about Bengaluru .... I am not sure if it is completely true. These statistics are without basis and hence debatable however it IS interesting read!!

1. Bangalore has the impeccable record of highest growth within a span of 20 years.

2. Bangalore has highest number of pubs in Asia .

3. Bangalore has highest number of cigarette smokers in India .

4. Bangalore has the highest number of software companies in India-212,followed by Hyderabad-108,Pune - 97. Hence called the silicon valley of India .

5. Bangalore has 21 engineering colleges, which is highest in the world in a given city. Bangaloreuniversity has 57 engineering colleges affiliated to it, which is highest in the world.

6. Bangalore is the only city in the world to have commercial and defence airport operating from the same strip.

7. Bangalore has highest number of public sectors and government organizations in India .

8. Bangalore university has highest number of students going abroad for higher studies taking the first place from IIT-Kanpur.

9. Bangalore has only 48% of local population (i.e.Kannadigas). Hence a true cosmopolitan with around 25% Tamilians, 14%Telugites, 10% Keralites,8% Europeans, 6% a mixture of all races. (This is a quite old figure, now local population is 30% kannadigas and others are increasing considerably)

10. Bangalore police has the reputation of being second best in India after Delhi .

11. Bangalore has the highest density of traffic in India .

12. Bangalore has the highest number of 2-wheelers in the world.

13. Bangalore is considered the fashion capital of east comparable to Paris .

14. Bangalore is rated the cleanest city in India .

15. Bangalore has produced the maximum international sportsmen in India for all sports ahead of even Mumbai & Delhi.

16. Bangalore has produced the maximum number of scientists considered for Nobel Prize nominations.

17. Bangalore has produced the highest number of professionals in USA almost 60% of the Indian population abroad is from Bangalore (except Gulf).

18. Bangalore is famous for THREE: Software Professionals, Girls and Dogs.

19. Bangalore is famous for its dog bites, an average of 12 people are bitten by stray dogs per MINUTE somewhere in Bangalore !

Work Starts on the interiors

Civil work at the site began today. Work on the interiors start Monday. Traditionally as is customary work begins with the breaking of a coconut. For us it began with the breaking of a wall for the service access....:)

Spoke to Amit this morning and he had some difficulty in organizing his work force for the Interiors this week. He had informed us that it would start middle of this week. Our first delay...we are almost a week through June...every day from first of June will cost us money - 2000 bucks a day...Hmmm

Will be taking a metal fabricator to work on the fabrication of a metal door for the service access and for the Gas bank and charcoal bin. We plan to house them just below the stairway.

Spoke to P, the person who will install the Genset at our place. It was tough catching up with him. Finally got P to come to Lipton this morning and finalized proceedings. We sign off on the Genset tomorrow and I pay him the necessary advance. He has the Genset ready - a 20 KVA equipment. P says, he has to get the shell for soundproofing readied. I told him I'd pay the advance and he can get this organized. This has been agreed upon. I pay him an advance of 2 months tomorrow. Earlier last week I spoke to another gentleman from Bangalore to provide us with a Genset. He was charging us twice the amount we will be paying P. I have realised...negotiate without disclosing the location of the site for best deals....

Gunakar, my colleague from my previous job is visiting Bangalore next week.

Finalised on the tiles for the wall today. 12 x 8 white / offwhite tiles. we require ~600 sqft. Will pay an advance later tomorrow. Also took the chef and visited Pottery town on Monday last. Picked up two tandoors ( clay ovens) for the restaurant. Finalised the rate at Rs 10000/- for two tandoors. This rate is inclusive of transportation and installation at site. The chef will oversee its installation which in all probability shall happen on Wednesday next.

Placed the order for Kitchen equipments and the exhaust last week. Have to place the order for cutlery and crockery. This will happen on Friday or Saturday when John returns from Pondicherry.

We have worked on a few ideas for the logo. Sidharth, Sudhakars son, would be working on the logos for us. Find below a few of his workings...some Interesting designs...however these have not been chosen. We have decided to keep the logos simple, bold and without any confusion and yet must display an element of class...which is what we are striving to achieve.

Some Logos

1. Too stylish...very common...chocolate wrapping for valentines...no!

 2.The tag line is a definite no no...   

3. Although I liked the font and the structure...

 4.  A font similar to a Dashiell Hammet novel????

  

5. I liked this but the L and the F got too close for comfort  

6. I liked this too...but...not just there yet     Ok, people talk to me...

Technorati Tags : D A L F R Y D A Y, dalfryday

Day of days

Found this interesting American calender listing called day of days on A plus forwards.

Newspapers

It struck me today that I must tag all the newspapers I read on to the blog. Though I keep track of a few Indian dailies on a regular basis I am not a very regular reader of the international dailies. I have been looking at a few of them at times when looking up specific information. Then this thought that since I visit the blog quite often it would be easier to track the dailies from here instead of a longer route that I have always been using...

...and then I came across this great site while browsing...

Watching America - A compilation of news articles from the world over on America. A website that translates all news about America from the original posts into English.  " translates foreign news about the U.S., to enable Americans (and all English speakers) to read what is being written about them and their country throughout the world. Much of our content is available nowhere else in English".

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I.T debate

I got this mail this evening in all its colourful glory. At first I thought it was a propaganda started by the machinery that always works in top gear whenever the Govt. that be, faces the wrath of a large section of the masses for its careless and insensitive policies. Having had that impression I read through the mail in full. Pretty scary I felt...I must admit...I read through the mail as a salaried employee of an organization and not as a person grappling with the machinery to find his feet as a self employed businessman.

I must say I felt, the benefits accrued through waivers and exceptions would disappear in one stroke if the policies were implemented. This was my first impression. I do not have any access to people well versed with the policies and IT act of 1961 to guide me through the implications of the mail, however I have set the ball rolling...the mail as instructed shall be forwarded to people in the know....so that I may be briefed appropriately.

I am also posting the mail here for the others to read....please leave your comments to the mail ID's listed below and also enlighten me on the ramifications if time permits you, dear reader.

Having read through the mail I also googled to see if this is another one of the Hoaxes in circulation. Luckily or unluckily, as some may call it, I didn't find anything on the web to list it as a hoax...in turn I found the complete list of tax exemptions in the website mentioned in the mail.

Pass the word around and let your voice be heard... Listed below is the copy of the email I received in original

Quote

Hi All,

It is heard that Congress government is planning to scrap tax exemptions on various policies like LIC, NSC, HRA, Mutual Funds & Other section 80C benefits (Exemptions Upto 1 lakh).

What does that mean:
- You cannot get tax exemtions on your HRA, i.e. No business of showing House rent agreement & receipts. You will be taxed on the whole HRA.
- You cannot claim tax exemptions by showing LIC Polocies or by having NSC Bonds.
- You wouldnt' be able to get tax exemtions on Housing loans.
- No Tax benefits on Mutual/Infrastructure bonds.

What does government wants:
Government is targeting the salaried people and is making sure that no tax exemptions can be availed and thereby collecting as much tax as possible from our salaries.

What does government wants us to do:
This is in discussion and government wants people to provide their feedback on these future decisions and will thereby decide by the number of feedbacks received.

** Your feedback is important and will decide how much of our Hard earned money is going to government. **

Please write a short email any one of these guys stating whether you want goverment to continue or discard these exsisting policies by 5th July 2006.

Ms. Anita Kapur, Joint Secretary, TPL-I, Room No. 147-B/I, North Block, New Delhi.
e-mail: jstpl1@nic.in or

Ms. Monica Bhatia, Director, TPL-I, Room No. 147-D, North Block, New Delhi.
e-mail: dirtpl1@nic.in  or

Ms. Pragya S. Saxena, Director, TPL-II, Room No. 147-E, North Block, New Delhi.
e-mail: dirtpl2@nic.in
 
IT is also displayed in the running messages in the Incometax department of india website  http://incometaxindia.gov.in ..
 
Your comments are very importent.
 
Please forward it to all u know.....


Remember guys its time to make difference, So please dont forget to email your comments and to Forward this email to as many people (Friends, colleagues, relatives).
The more the NO's , the lesser the chance of discarding these exisiting policies..
 
 
GUYS PLEASE PLEASE DO NOT IGNORE THIS MAIL, THIS IS QUESTION OF OUR HARD URNED MONEY!

Unquote

For more information on the above you may also read the forum opened on The Economic Times - ET Blogs and join the debate here

MySpace

I have seen MySpace.com grow at such a rapid pace that recently I have decided to hop on to the bandwagon and not be left out...and today...

I have created a new group on myspace.com...If you would like to join please register for free at

http://groups.myspace.com/bangalorenewbies

This is a space is for Indians ,Bangaloreans, and people new to Bangalore to network and connect...

Happy Networking

About MySpace

This is what MySpace says about itself and find out if you are six degrees of separation from that popular Hollywood / Bollywood star crush of yours...;)

MySpace is an online community that lets you meet your friends' friends.
Create a private community on MySpace and you can share photos, journals and interests with your growing network of mutual friends!
See who knows who, or how you are connected. Find out if you really are six people away from Kevin Bacon.

MySpace is for everyone:

• Friends who want to talk Online
• Single people who want to meet other Singles
• Matchmakers who want to connect their friends with other friends
• Families who want to keep in touch--map your Family Tree
• Business people and co-workers interested in networking
• Classmates and study partners
• Anyone looking for long lost friends!

If it is not too late, I guess you should also start networking....:)

Some useful Links to MySpace

• http://www.profiletweaks.com/
  
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