Being a shepherd in a contrasted capital city in 2014

Until the genuine beginning of the next rainy season, Manjaka’ sheep keep making the best of what they have. Getting a massive move on to improve their livestock is not common at all among farmers. Everything goes with a slow path but the right way nonetheless. Manjaka parks his sheep in. A passerby or two generally stands aside and carefully watches. “You do what exactly with his sheep? “He asks Manjaka. “They are to be sold out” so sounds the young shepherd’s answer. “How much? “asks the speaker with interest. ” merely 200,000 MGA or even a bit less, it’s up to” answers Manjaka. “To whom? “the interrogatory develops. “To the Karana and to Malagasy as well from time to time.” The Karana are the generic name for members of many Indian and Pakistani communities which settled down in Madagascar several generations ago. Still, a job as shepherd in a city like Antananarivo makes it when it comes to make both ends meet. It actually proves quite hard to put Antananarivo city in a defined category. A fair description of the city would depict a developing “ruralisation of urban life.” A cow straggling in the middle of a freeway is far from uncommon in Antananarivo city. Carts often rule the cars’ speed and the traffic jam. For every attempt to block their access to the capital city streets have failing so far. As for Manjaka, this issue is no concern to him since he restricts his roaming areas to the fields of Andranovory, although this place itself progressively switches face through the increasing erection of residential villas beside traditional rural ranches and corals in the outskirts of Antananarivo city. This contrast does not prevent Manjaka from selling a sheep or two per week. That is largelyenough to him.