National Railway Museum and Oxfam duplicity

Boy Scouts at the National Railway Museum, New Delhi, October 13, 2005

Well, a lot of what I described on Monday has gone pear-shaped. Specifically, my 'volunteering' at Oxfam, allegedly my Oxfam loyalty bonus (13% of earned pay upon contract completion), and now at risk: my actual Oxfam loyalty.

To explain: On Tuesday I was told that Oxfam Kabul is 'uncomfortable' with my working in New Delhi for the remainder of my contract. There was always something fishy about me being asked to leave three weeks early and now it's confirmed although not explained. Today's blow was that I had been given the 'wrong contract' when I joined. Although my contract was explicitly six-months, contracts of six months or less are not meant to have the loyalty clause that mine contains. I'm sure it was a mistake - and I'm sure I'm going to collect because it's what we signed.

Before receiving this blow I had a nice saunter round the National Railway Museum. It's not the poshest in the world - and all the model trains were derailed or otherwise inoperable, but it was all very pleasant. (The Indian Railway system is, by the way, merely the world's largest single employer.) The museum holds a large collection of locomotives and rolling stock, coping, as does India, with a large collection of track gauges. (The turntable accommodates three.) As I was leaving the museum was invaded by a swarm of Boy and Girl scouts who seemed to think I was one of the attractions. They all wanted to shake hands (to the consternation of their master) and they all seemed to need to be reminded to do so left-handed. (They got the three-fingered salute right.) I was pretty amazed that I remembered that Scouts should shake left-handed. If I recall correctly, while normal hand shaking is meant to signify that you hold no weapon, Scouts shake left-handed to signify that they hold no shield. It's a nice symbol for what is otherwise sometimes almost a neo-fascist organization.

To cheer myself up tonight I worked hard on refurbishing my portrait gallery. Here's the link: