HOW much of Guyanese history do you know? Enough? Enough to get by?
Let’s see: Did you know that the first lighthouse erected in Georgetown was a wooden structure? Do you know when the Post Office Savings Bank was started? Did you know the first commercial bank was established in 1836? Do you know when the first cinema was opened, or when silent movies gave way to talking pictures?
Do you know when the Georgetown-Mahaica railway started operating, or when the service was scrapped? What do you know of the Saffron Trust, or the Negro Education Fund? What’s the name of the first Inspector of Schools? Who produced the first known printed map of Guiana? What is Evelyn Waugh’s book, ‘Ninety-two days’, all about? What is GAIL, and when was it established? Do you know when the electric tram ceased to operate? Do you know when the first lamplighter was appointed?
Whether you have answered all or none, here is a very useful book on the subject. That book is ‘Timelines of Guyanese History’ by Lal Balkaran, and it is in a new, updated second edition. This second edition comes in a new format: A paperback size for easy handling.
‘Timelines of Guyanese History’ is everything the blurb professes it to be: ‘[a] Chronological Guide to more than 2000 key events in 23 categories since 1498.’
The information in the twenty-three categories sometimes overlaps. This may be cumbersome to a reader who may want to put a certain event in the context of the whole history of the country, constraining the reader to turn back and forth.
Having said that, the constant effort flicking of the pages, back and forth, could be rewarding for cross-referencing purposes. However, credit is due to the compiler of ‘Timelines of Guyanese History’.
This is not Mr Balkaran’s first or only effort at compiling reference books on Guyana.
Balkaran’s other reference books include ‘The Rupununi Savannahs: A Visual Journey’, ‘Dictionary of the Guyanese Amerindians and other South American Native Terms’, ‘A Photojournal of the Guyanese Amerindians: Over 200 photographs of their everyday life and cultural activities’, and ‘Bibliography of Guyana and Guyanese Writers’. Many of the above books have been updated and reprinted, a credit to Balkaran’s quest to get the information he publishes as near correct as possible.
Lal Balkaran was born in Pouderoyen, and grew up on the West Bank of Demerara, attending primary and secondary schools in the said area. He is a Certified Internal Auditor, and a Certified General Accountant with an MBA from the Heriot-Watt University of Edinburgh, Scotland. He has numerous publications in that field of finance.
His thirst for knowledge in insatiable, and he is magnanimous in his passion to share this acquired knowledge.
(To respond to this author, either call him on (592) 226-0065 or send him an email: oraltradition2002@yahoo.com)
What’s Happening:
• The current issue of The Guyana Annual magazine is dedicated to E.R .Braithwaite, author of ‘To Sir with Love’. Tributes, reviews of his publications, and related articles are invited for possible inclusion in the magazine. You may also submit poems, short stories and articles of interest. For further information, please contact me at the above telephone number or/and email address.
• My book, ‘The Balgobin Saga’, was used in the production of a fourteen-minute docudrama, ‘The Legend of Balgobin’. This docudrama was produced by the Centre for Communication Studies, University of Guyana. Copies of the film are available at the Centre; copies of the book can be had at Austin’s Book Service.
