We follow a girl entering a café. She is speaking to someone over the phone.
“If these guys agree, nothing like it. Ok, I have reached here now. Bye.”
She reaches the counter, and talks to the boy.
This is when we see her for the first time. She must be around 22 years old. Chirpy, bubbly kind of persona, with a smile that melts the distance even when she meets someone for the first time.
“Can I speak with the store manager here?”
The boy at the counter nods, and points towards a man standing at the far end corner of the café. The girl meets him and they sit a nearby table.
“Ok. So, here’s the thing. I have been dating this guy for 4 years now. From first year college. And I am now thinking of proposing to him. But I have never quite found the right moment or place.
And yesterday, when we had come here, he told me how he loved this place… the ambience and everything. So now, I want to propose to him this Friday on the centre table out there. He had said he loves that table. So that’s where we will probably sit again, when we come on Friday.
And I want to make it a big thing. So I wanted to shoot it live and put it up for our friends to watch on YouTube. So I would really need your help to set up the place with cameras and mics and all of that.”
“I … I am not sure we can do that, Ma’am. I understa…”
“Oh c’mon. Imagine how much publicity your store would get. This place will become, like, the cool place to hang out for college kids and all. And, more than anything else, it would mean a huge lot to me. If we do this here, it will be a great surprise for him. So please, please, please!”
The manager thinks for a moment and nods, “Ok.”
“Perfect. I will come tomorrow and set it up. Thanks a ton!”
Before we know, the girl is already on the phone. She is literally jumping up and down with excitement. “Hi! He’s agreed. Now, listen…”
It’s Friday. We are right in the middle of the preparations. It is afternoon time, and the café has only a few customers. We see 4 girls – one of them is our protagonist. She is talking to the manager. She is much more enthusiastic, and a little more nervous than how we had seen her earlier.
“Ok. We will need some kind of hidden place for us to record the whole thing. No, we will need some other room. Is there another room?”
“We have a small store room.”
“Yes! That will be great!”
“Now, where do we put the camera?” She points to the picture frames on the walls. “Do you think we can attach to one of these frames. No, it won’t give us a good picture.”
The manager comes up with an idea. “We can put a vase on the table.”
“Oh yes, good idea. But then, we will have to put a vase on every table. Sheena, buy 12 vases and come back.”
We are now in the ‘control room’. The third girl, who seems the most comfortable with the gadgetry, is trying to understand the recording equipment. “Do you know how to start the recording?”
“Call Basu. He would guide us best. We should have called him here itself.”
“Oh please, not him!”
“Oh wait! This is it. It’s recording.”
A moment of silence. The other 2 girls huddle up on the small screen. It shows the POV of the camera from the vase. Yay!
Our protagonist suddenly realizes that this is going to be it. She gathers herself.
One of the girls says, “Babes, just 1 hour to go. Go get ready.”
“Yeah, you need to get ready and call him to meet you outside. Here, I have a face-wash. Also, just do up the hair a bit.”
Mann yeh sahib ji, dekhein hai sab ji, phhir bhi na samjhe ishaare
Her phone's ringtone.
She checks her phone. It’s him! “Think of the devil and the devil calls.”
“Awwww. Love, love!” Giggles everywhere!
“Sshhhh.” She answers. “Hey! I was just thinking of calling you.”
We just hear a voice-over. “Hi babes. I actually called to say that we won’t be able to meet today. We have got this outbound training program and I have to leave today. Very sorry, baby.”
“Huh! What nonsense! You promised you will give me time today. Why can’t you say no to them?”
“I want to… but I can’t. You know how my work is.”
“I don’t care. You have to have to meet me.”
“I am really sorry.” A pause. Change of tone. “Ya, right away. Ok listen, I will call you later. I am just getting into a meeting. Bye baby. Bye. Bye.”
Silence in the tiny room.
“We put in so much effort ya.”
“Shut up Sheena! It's ok babes. It will happen on some other day.”
Just then on the TV screen. We see a guy's face entering the frame.
A guy has taken a seat on our table, and we are looking at him through the camera hidden in the vase.
“I love this place. Especially this table. It has a different feeling. Strange, they have added a vase here. Anyways, so I was saying, we are free for the weekend. Let’s go some place.” He's the same guy talking to
We hear another voice, a girl's.
“You should tell her.”
“I will. It is just that I am waiting for the right time. We have been together for a long time. She might not take it rightly. I don’t want it to blow out of proportion.”
For a moment, we switch from the TV screen to our protagonist sitting in the cafe's store room. She is shocked at this guy’s insensitivity for the relationship.
The girl’s voiceover continues. “It is not a proposal. It does not need such planning. Just call her some place and let her know.”
We are now no more on the screen. We are facing the guy at the table itself.
“I am not sure. I don’t know when it is a good time. I can’t tell her right now!”
We hear footsteps, and our protagonist joins the couple at the table.
“Why? Why not now?”
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