I have shaken Beckham's hand.

The Guyanese equivalent of the English football star David Beckham is cricketer Ramnaresh Sarwan from the West Indies team (a regional team comprised of the best in Guyana), and yesterday I met this co-captain and top batsman in the physiotherapy department. I recognized his face from the story-high Pepsi advert overlooking Stabroek bus Park. Then later found that he was also a familiar face from cell phone ads in the phone book and that his cricketing exploits are "favourite" material for BBC sports since he is very talented and very young. I was in the midst of getting my badly-sprained finger a game plan for recovery in the two weeks before my karate exam. It was jammed when I tried to block a roundhouse kick with an open fist (not recommended). The physiotherapist recommended an electric treatment, which sounded a lot to me like shocks, so I was looking at her doubtfully when a voice assured me that the treatment worked wonders, and he should know. Nice guy, encouraging words, but I still didn't take the treatment yet. I did pull the fan move and ask to shake his hand, though - I think there are times to be shameless. ;o)

THEN, to add to my star-studded week, Eileen and I came to find out that our landlord is married to the daughter of Forbes Burnham. Burnham was a founding father of Guyana and the president of Guyana from 1964 to his death in 1985. Here's the full story, under HISTORY. What it doesn't say is that most Guyanese remember the Burnham years with a kind of terror in their eyes. Burnham wanted Guyana to be totally economically independent entity, and forbade use of many foreign products in the country (including things like flour, tin food, and other essentials). Armed soldiers entered houses and searched for contriband items at any hour of the day or night. I haven't heard many pleasant stories about these years. There was also some scandal involving money and Swiss bank accounts shortly after his death, so it's a small wonder that we don't see much of her here. His legacy is not quite so fondly remembered as his beginnings and his drive to bring about an independent Guyana.