Prolific writer Lal Balkaran publishes books on a variety of subjects
Inspired by his heritage, award winning Canada-based Guyanese author Lal Balkaran is penning numerous books aiming to showcase the talents and beauty of his homeland.
Balkaran was born at Plantation Versailles on the West Bank Demerara on July 4, 1953, grew up in Pouderoyen, and later moved to Goed Fortuin in 1970, all three areas in close proximity.
He attended the nearby Malgre Tout Government School (1960-1965) and the West Demerara Government Secondary School (1965-1970). After high school, he taught in the Rupununi for five years from 1970-75 among the Wapishanas, and travelled extensively throughout Guyana.
Additionally, he is self-taught and is a certified internal auditor, fellow certified general accountant, fellow chartered management accountant, and holds an MBA from Heriot-Watt University of Edinburgh, Scotland. He moved to Barbados in 1982 as the accountant at CXC and then as a financial controller at the Caribbean Broadcasting Corporation in 1984 before immigrating to Canada in 1987 where he worked as senior audit executive in a range of high-profile organizations.
Balkaran was granted two awards by the Institute of Internal Auditors (IIA) – Canada: the 2010 Arthur J. Childs Distinguished Service in Canada Award for his IIA activities over the years including starting an IIA Guyana Chapter in 2000 and the 2012 Contribution to the Profession of Internal Auditing Award for his dedication and academic contribution to the internal auditing profession through the range of articles and books he has written on the profession that have been published around the world.
Additionally, he is an internal auditor and a published author. He has written several books and dozens of articles on a wide range of subjects. Six books are on accounting and auditing, including the world’s first dictionary of auditing published by LexisNexis (Butterworths) in Toronto, while seven are on his native Guyana.
His fascination with the savannah and jungle scenery of the area and everyday life of the people enabled him to live like them: hunting with bow and arrow; fishing with kunam and traps; drinking parakari (kari); listening to savannah and other tales of kanaima and the peaiaman; participating in their feasts; observing their taboos; eating farine, tasso and cassava bread, and sleeping in a hammock. This is his seventh book on his native Guyana. All are authoritative and timeless publications which have been well received.
The long-term friendship he developed and maintained with some of his colleagues in the Rupununi enabled him to direct them to take some of the scenes contained in this book. The author also travelled and explored other areas of the vast region, even accompanying the natives to ‘bleed’ balata at Apoteri in 1972. He also explored the jungles from Awarewaunau to as far as the Kwitaro River and walked for miles throughout the savannah, sleeping at remote ranches, abandoned houses, and even crossing over to Brazil through the Takatu River.
The writer’s life in Guyana’s interior was a defining moment and his travels throughout the hinterland in addition to his interests in the Amerindians throughout the Americas inspired him to compile the “Encyclopaedia of the Guyanese Amerindians”.
He has also done documentaries “A photo journal of the Guyanese Amerindians”, “Guyana: A Photographic Journey across All Four Geographic Regions”, and “Stamps of British Guiana and Guyana”.
Currently, he is working on a fourth edition of his book “Bibliography of Guyana and Guyanese Writers” due to be out in mid-2014.
Of note, Balkaran has been donating books on a variety of subjects including business, accounting, finance, auditing, and anthropology in addition to computer equipment and a miscellany of items to the various missions in the interior, the National Library and the UG Library over the years, and in July 2013 when he was in Guyana conducting a 2-day workshop in HR Auditing under the auspices of IIA-Guyana.
Balkaran’s interests are many and can be viewed from his website at www.lalbalkaran.com. He can be contacted at lalbalkaran@rogers.com (Guyana Times Sunday Magazine)
