The day I met an exotic Khasi girl in London!

My good old schoolmate from St. Edmund’s Gerald Pde who currently works in New York is the Internet researcher who tracked down this amazingly beautiful and super talented Khasi star that Shillong has ever produced. Her name is Karen David and she is only 27, but I must say that she has achieved a lot for her age. Gerald’s wife Habari Warjri who is also a good friend of mine, then got in touch with me in London and connected me to Karen who wanted to meet Khasi people there.

Karen was born in the music-loving city of Shillong, but moved to Toronto with her parents when she was one year old. The last time she returned home was when she was 8 years old. So when I met her, I told her that she must revisit her homeland and rediscover her roots and heritage. She then told me she wrote a song called “Shillong Shillong” and I was happy to know that still she strongly identifies herself as a Khasi girl even she was raised far away in Canada. We both agreed that we needed to put our hometown Shillong on the international radar screen and that we wanted to work with children in the poor villages of our state Meghalaya.


Before I went to her show at the Jazz Café in London, I did a little research on her and I was really impressed by what she has been able to achieve so far. I found out that the stylish singer, songwriter and actress may be this year’s hottest new thing, and it seems that Karen is no stranger to the world of showbiz. She was handpicked by Bill Cosby to star alongside him in a TV commercial for Jell-O at the age of six, and the multi-talented girl has spent her whole life doing what she does best putting on dazzling performances to win admirers wherever she goes. Born in Shillong and raised in Toronto, by a Khasi mother and a father from Chennai, I guess the ever-alluring Karen was never one to be confined by the expected boundaries.


One evening after spending the whole day studying and working on my paper at the London School of Economics library, I decide to take a break and go to one of her shows at the Jazz Cafe in the North of London to hear her music and relax my mind. When I got there her fans cheered as she walked on stage with a light grey top with shining silver V shaped neck, black pants and smooth leather boots up to the knee. She saw this Khasi boy in the club packed with her screaming fans and just smiled at me as I wave my hand. After that all the other girls and boys in the club then looked at me and asked me how I knew the cool singer on stage. I replied to them saying that it was my first Karen David show.


I wanted Karen to sing “Shillong Shillong” which is about our homeland, but she sang four of her other great songs. She opened with “I Need You”, and who could resist such an offer? The exotic star has everything her fans have been looking for: talent, beauty, charm and a star quality that shines through everything she puts her passion to. That night she was performing with the Inklein Quartet – so they were playing a couple of their own pieces as well - she hit the stage at 8.30pm sharp and I tell you, it’s not easy to sing pop songs with a Quartet. There were seven people playing three violins, a cello, a tabla, a keyboard and a background singer. Karen did the opening for the great Susheela Raman and her music was simply amazing!



After her show Karen introduced me to her manager and lawyer Colin Long who later gave me her CD. She got me a drink and some pudding and thanked me for coming to support her. She is so talented and famous, but yet she is so humble and warm. I think that is the perfect ingredients that make a star. I am really proud of her and all the Khasi people will be very proud of her too. I picked up one of her fliers and she signed her autograph on it for me. Before we parted that night, I said rock on Khasi Star and she said "Khublie Shibun and Thiah Suk". What can I say, but she turned that cold and rainy night in London into one that her fans including myself will cherish for a while.


Karen was in a film with Steven Seagal in, "Enemy of the Unseen" in Romania. The picture above is a shot of Karen as Lieutenant Landers in the US Air Force from the film set. Well we will have to wait until the film comes out of Hollywood to see Karen in action. The other picture is during the Lord of the Rings premier in Canada with A. R. Rahman. If you are interested in her work then you can listen to her music and see her videos on www.karendavid.com. May the force be with her to keep our Khasi star safe and strong always!