The Knife Sharpener

She was sharpening her knives on the edge of the concrete pavement. I was having a beer in her little ‘gargotte’. A gargotte is the Malagasy name for a very informal restaurant.

When I asked her what she was doing, she replied – with a smile, “Sharpening the knives for the next revolution.”

She made this remark immediately after the young-peoples’ riots in Antananarivo which toppled the government – once again – in Madagascar.

The Malagasy people have generally a poor level of education – not their fault- but an extremely high level of cynicism about everybody with a little authority;