It was a charity dinner organised by socialite Bina Ramani's `The Art of Giving' organisation at Hotel Oberoi and the guest list included such names as the Ambanis, the Godrejs and the Dubashes. Welcoming and escorting the guests to their tables was Onida's Gita Mirchandani and the master of ceremony for the night was Devika Bhojwani.

Already, Gere has spoken to fifty celebs and they all have agreed to to arrange an AIDS awareness afternoon. So much so that Gere now describes Jackie Shroff as his ``new best friend,'' and he is to appear in a film (abouts AIDS of course) with Vinod Khanna and and Anupam Kher.

In his speech Gere said AIDS fist became an issue in Hollywood when Rock Hudson died of AIDS and his friend Elizabeth Taylor brought the disease under sharp focus. ``Eventually someone in this room will gothrough the same thing, and do something crazy.... and will get the disease,'' said Gere. Though Gere words did get the attention of the audience, it was Shabana Azmi's speech that really hit home. She asked the audience how many of them had addressed the problem at their home. ``What about those who look after your children and house?'' she asked.

The speeches and dinner were followed by a fashion show and on the ramp were Aishwarya Rai, M F Husain, Ravi Shastri, Zeenat Aman, Pheroza Godrej, Saryu Doshi and professional model Madhu Sapre, who stunned audiences with a pink Pallavi Jaikishan outfit. The show kicked off with Rhea Pillai and Sanjay Dutt in Abu Jani and Sandeep Khosla designs.

Earlier in the day, Gere addressed a press conference where he wished to involve himself at the grass-roots level by bringing about a co-ordination between US-based anti-AIDS activists and their Indian counterparts.

Addressing presspersons at Hotel Oberoi, he said said he was in India to give the anti-AIDS movement a``jump-start.'' Education and imparting training to NGOs to create awareness on issues related to HIV/AIDS, the actor claimed, were listed high on his agenda. Warning Mumbai of a catostrophe, he urged the media and celebrities to come together to prevent it from becoming the AIDS capital of India. ``I am going to stop this...You cannot think of development with 20 million HIV infections in the next century. Let us join hands in protecting our brothers and sisters,'' said the president of Gere Foundation, an organisation working worldwide to create awareness about AIDS.

Later in the day, however, Gere abruptly called off one his engagements at Kamathipura, the city's red-light area. All it took to scare the celebrated actor away from Kamathipura, where he was supposed to take part in a anti-AIDS programme this afternoon, was a posse of press photographers and some garishly dressed prostitutes crowding the Falkland Road to see the gora actor.

Gere, who was accompanied by actor and social activist ShabanaAzmi, didn't even get off the taxi where a stage was built by the Indian Health Organisation for the programme. He simply sped away leaving the waiting crowd and mediapersons shocked.

Much before his scheduled 2 pm arrival at Falkland Road, a substantialcrowd,comprising prostitutes and their children, had gathered to witness what was touted as a major event. The SNDT College performed several skits to keep the gathering infotained. The wait ended only at 3.30 pm, only to leave the crowd disappointed.