The clutter of pictures and recaps of Richard Gere pecking Shilpa Shetty are all across varied forms of media. We shall refrain from calling it a kiss simply because it is not one! We spoke to the man who witnessed the alleged crime scene unfold merely a couple of footsteps away. Nasir Walker Quazi was anchoring the Aids Awareness Campaign addressed to the truck owners, drivers and locals present on Sunday in the national capital Delhi.

The most obvious question was did Nasir anticipate this uproar when the incident happened? He recalls, "I did not think of this kind of reaction at all. In fact everybody considered it as an extension of the entertainment. For an hour before Shilpa took the stage we had Bhangra and Punjabi music playing."

What was he whispering in Richard's ear and what really happened? "Shilpa took the podium, spoke about the Aids awareness campaign and then stepped down to escort Richard Gere on to the stage. When he came he kissed her hand in an appreciative gesture as she was introducing him in Hindi. Richard had asked me before the show if I could translate whatever was said on stage to him in English, i was whispering the translation in his ear! And then of course he extended his warm gesture of goodbye and the peck followed. In fact it worked as a fun element."

He was seen whispering in Shilpa's ear as well just before the incident, "There are certain technical things to keep in mind, when you are on a stage with live audience before you. There is a tape change that occurs and consumes 10 seconds; they put on music to camouflagethe slilence. When Shilpa walked Gere to the dais there was a tape change and she was not aware of it. Hence I had to ask her to wait for ten seconds before she could say anything. That's all!", explains Nasir.

He opines that it is amusing to see how certain sections of the media reacting to the incident, "I found it so juvenile, all the burning and the protests. The truckers present there did not raise any eyebrows, so it's really sad! Everybody has missed out on the issue of Aids for which the campaign was held. Also the fact that Sunny Deol, who does not address any function, came in and addressed the truckers in Punjabi was quite a moving experience. He spoke so well and explained things so clearly: all of that is lost with this focus. The kiss overshadowed the cause."

Our reaction to the episode is that of letting a dog bark. However we do question ourselves whether it is fair for people of sovereign India to tolerate such mayhem and let fundamentalists burning effigies of the actors in protest of a frivolous peck on the cheek?

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