Cowboy Karma

I’ve mentioned some of the minor inconveniences of getting around and doing the simple things in life. It’s part of the daily life here, the confinement, the restrictions, the patronizing-like attitude by superiors...all of which are necessary and, in my better moments, appreciated.

That said; my misanthropy is in full gear. I’m trying to keep it at just that and not direct it towards specific persons that have thrown up some hurdles for me in getting out of town. As I’ve said before, I’m off to India—two nights in Delhi (in transit), and a few nights in Goa. I’ll get there eventually, that’s for sure...well I hope. I especially hope I’m there on Tuesday afternoon. See I was originally booked for the flight on Thursday. But this little conflagration over some comics escalating (I was going to do a post about that, but I care more about beaches right now than Muslim political culture), compounded with the Shi’a holiday where they self-flagellate (and the violence that erupted in Iraq on that day) this Thursday, my scheduled flight out is a no go for me. We’re on lockdown, our security personnel being quite precautious.

In a recent post VP has started writing a taxonomy of aid and development workers. Though I most squarely fall in the "mercenary" category, given my salary as a private sector contractor, I suggested another category for a lot of the "mercenaries" here, that of Cowboy. It’s not that I’m here just for the money and career advancement, it’s partly the wanderlust, the recklessness of it all, being in a post-conflict zone, etc, etc.

That attitude, that is somewhat common here, especially among the literal mercenaries, is part of the reason I pushed for this opportunity. It also explains my brazen and cavalier attitude towards the above-mentioned aspects of life here. You know: trivial difficulties don’t phase me—I got a job to do dammit—bombs going off, grenades being tossed, kidnappings, beheadings...eh—I’m off to sleep, wake me when the day begins. That attitude.

So it’s come to bite me in the ass now. I’m guessing its karma for my hubris (though I cant have, nor claim that much hubris. I’m no soldier, nor literal mercenary, nor a national who travels around with out a shooter and armed escort vehicle. Thank you security folks.) So rather, my karma is probably coming from my dismissive attitude, and my unjustly adopting the cowboy attitude.

I’m off to the airport on Tuesday. I’ve been remiss in posting. I’ll be even more remiss in the coming days, hopefully. Oh I hope I get on that flight...