MissMalini & K'Naan
MissMalini & K’Naan

Hello from your Desi Girl Traveler reporting in LIVE from Los Angeles on Oscar weekend, woo-hoo! Yup I hopped over after Malaysia Social Media Week (if you can call two flights that lasted a total of 15 hours a hop! *LOL*) But I’m not complaining, I’m here for the most exciting weekend EVER and all courtesy the World Gold Council, yay!

World Gold Council Team
World Gold Council Team
Sally Morrison (MD - Jewellery, World Gold Council)
Sally Morrison (MD – Jewellery, World Gold Council)

Btw, aren’t Sally’s golden Nike’s to-die-for? I believe they come in molten silver and might be launching soon in molten ruby red!

gold Nikes
gold Nikes

Tonight my awesome WGC hosts Sally Morrison, Jacqueline Crocker & Reethika Nair took Nowshad and I to a very cool spot in West Hollywood called The Hotel Cafe. One of those off-the-radar places with dim lighting, a back entrance and the coolest vibe!

The Hotel Cafe, LA
The Hotel Cafe, LA
The Hotel Cafe, LA
The Hotel Cafe, LA

That’s where we witnessed K’Naan (who you must know from his official FIFA anthem Wavin Flag’ and my personal favourite Is Anybody Out There) LIVE, unplugged and oh-SO-awesome!

To top it all I got to meet the 12 Years a Slave star Lupita Nyong’o who was in the audience too cos she’s a big K’Naan fan 🙂 – she requested no pictures though so she wouldn’t get stuck posing with peeps for the rest of the night, far enough!

courtesy @knaanstagram
courtesy @knaanstagram

So before I go trigger happy on all that glitters at the Love Gold House tomorrow, take a look at some of K’Naan’s golden lyrics (some old some new, some I never knew) and you’ll see why I fell in love with this gentle poet all over again. (Check out my Instavideos for snatches of his perfomance here.) xoxo

This one’s really cute, about that feeling when you’re trying to hold on to a relationship that’s dying and you want to put off the breaking up part…!

K'Naan - "Hurt Me Tomorrow"
K’Naan – “Hurt Me Tomorrow”

Then he did another super moving sonnet on Somalia and piracy.

K'Naan - "Somalia"
K’Naan – “Somalia”

But the one that personally got me the most was a song he had written for a girl he had a crush on when he was 12-and-a-half-years-old. She was 14 at the time and her name was Fatima. Tragically she was shot dead the same year and so he wrote this ode in her memory.

K'Naan - "Fatima"
K’Naan – “Fatima”

Amazing right? I’m gonna be listening to his words very closely now that I know what a lyric master he is.

Screen Shot 2014-02-28 at 1.09.31 PM
Screen Shot 2014-02-28 at 1.03.51 PM

What a great welcome to LA, can’t wait for tomorrow when I’ll be doing a photo shoot with my favorite pieces from the Love Gold House and then attending a pre-Oscar party for Jared Leto at SLS Las Vegas! Stay tuned for pix.

Aaannnndddd I took this #selfie at the Sunset Marquis which is where I’ll be staying till Monday morning 🙂

MissMalini selfie
MissMalini selfie

Psst! Priyanka Chopra loves this adorable little boutique hotel and has been here on her many trips to LA. I also spotted Mads Mikkelsen shooting by the pool when I checked in this afternoon!

Sunset Marquis
Sunset Marquis

Hahaha Mr. Nobody, I’ll see YOU at the bar 😉