London: The most gorgeous book launch of the year

Oh my! Well, did you know a book launch could be so splendid!

Thanks to the super kindness and support of Joan and Terry Mahony, who so kindly hosted the evening, KMP held it's first international book launch today. We brought the revised edition of Gurus for Hire, Enlightenment for Sale to the world today at the very beautiful, cosmopolitan heart of the exclusive Cadogan Gardens, just off Sloane Square.


The event saw almost 80 people at the lovely venue all of whom lent great support to our newest title. The launch was well received by a broad section of society, ranging from corporate heads to philantropists to students and international journalists.

Among the vast and varied guest list were Martin Barrow, Francois de Witt and France Berveiller Choa, who so kindly gave endorsements for the book and had flown into London especially for the launch; shoe god Dato' Jimmy Choo; the Malaysian High Commissioner's press officer, Revi Pillai; Mr and Mrs MacKay from the Kensington Palace and The Star's London correspondent Choi Tuck Wo, who also interviewed members of KMP and Tsem Ladrang for a feature that he will be doing about the book and launch.


The venue was all filled with gorgeousness. It was like Alice in Wonderland grew up, got sophisticated and decorated this little space with everything beautiful she'd ever seen. Our very own Bill Keith turned every corner into something magical, marrying candles, flowers and Buddha statues with the uber-luxe, rich, candle-lit interiors of the rooms. Tsongkhapa, Tara, Heruka - they were all there with us to celebrate this new wave of blessings in Londontown, and beyond!

And the icing on the cake? As if the room wasn't filled with enough splendidness, KMP girls and our most fashionable, most darling Liaison Ruby Khong charmed every person in the room when they showed up in Bill's stunning, award-winning creations - traditional kebayas with cute, modern twists and lots and lots of cheeky sheerness. Sexy, subtle, professional, beautiful - what's not to love about Kechara's daring twists in their Dharma work hehe!


We all turned heads, and almost all the guests came up to tell us how absolutely-fabulous-darling, we looked!.One of the guests of the party even commented to Susan that she was very surprised to see how "normal" we looked. She was amazed that we were so well-dressed yet so spiritual at the same time. (I especially love the word "normal", as if spiritual people are supposed to be odd and dress hideously).


Our-Kindest-Most-Fabulous-Ever adviser Joan gave Just-As-Fabulous speech which introduced Rinpoche, Dharma and her work with KMP to all her friends. Though the speech was short, Joan was full of laughter and that special energy that can come only from her deep and wonderful commitment to bringing the joy of Rinpoche's teachings to others. Her concluding line - "Never say you can't, because that isn't the real you speaking" - brought everyone in the room back to the heart of Rinpoche's teachings: to be the best person you can be.

Head Ladrang Liaison, JP Thong, then also delivered a speech to give a brief introduction to Rinpoche and his teachings. Drawing on personal experiences, JP especially shared how he and Ladrang Associate Liaison/ Director of Fundraising May Phng were both inspired to commit to working with Rinpoche, to bring Dharma to the world.

Nobody left the evening without a giant smile, plenty of happy hugs and a "Gurus for Hire" goodie bag that contained within a biography of Rinpoche and a beautifully-framed quotation, extracted from the book. Little pieces of Enlightenment are now flying around London and, we hope, uplifting hearts. Here's to many more book launches to go global!

In line with the global launch in London, Gurus for Hire, Enlightenment for Sale is now available at all Kechara outlets in KL, kechara.com/eShop, amazon.com, gardners.com and barnesandnoble.com amongst others so do get your copy now now now now now! If you do, I'll give you a kiss for free.

PS Many more photos-full-of-loveliness to come soon. Our very lovely photographer for the day, Pete Biggs (the bestest friend a girl could have at university!) so so so kindly offered to photographer the event pro bono, and even stayed back extra late to take as many photos as possible. He'll prepare and pass over the photos for me soon.