LowEred ExPECtATioNS!!

This is something I came up with on my Dreadfully Broing journey back to Bangalore last night!

“the 10:29 K.S.R.T.C Airavat depature bus has been delayed by an hour. All the passengers are requested to wait for the bus. The K.S.R.T.C Rajhamsa bus # 3321 is now departing and Mr. Manju, seat # 5, Mr. Sathish seat # 15 are requested…”



The announcement was sufficient to make Priya’s heart leap right out. A holdup by one hour meant that she could perhaps meet her boyfriend, one last time before she left for Mysore for a good 2 weeks.

[COOCHIE…my bus’s delyd by 1hr!]

‘Beep beep’; Message Delivered to Aaron.

In an instant she was rapturous! Now she could spend another hour with the love of her life. As she waited for a reply she imagined...

...him receiving that sms and jumping with joy, wearing a T-Shirt over his bare chest as he mostly stripped down to his boxers at home, and pester his cousin to take him on his bike (though Aaron could do a lot of things riding a two wheeler was not one of them) to the bus stop which was about 10 minutes away if they did 60 KMPH on the Kinetic, and finally jumping off the bike in anxiety even before the cousin could actually stop. Getting cursed for it, and then finally starting a mad hunt for her! She’d be standing there looking out for him, he would see her, their eyes would meet and it would be all filmy and romantic and their favorite song ‘Brighter than Sunshine…’ would play in the background while they came closer to each other and first surveyed the entire area for any known or familiar faces of friends family or relatives then they’d move silently to a corner and do a quick hug, all the while on a lookout for familiar faces, then walk up to an empty bench and talk and say things like:


“I can’t believe I’m getting to spend an hour with you”, Even though they’d just seen each other a couple of hours ago


or


“Baby I missed you so much you look amazing”, In spite of her disheveled hair tied loosely in a bun or her wearing a pair of boring jeans and lose, yellow top; her travel clothes!

As she shook herself out of her fantasy waiting for it to become a reality she looked down at her phone. Ten minutes had passed by and neither had she gotten a reply nor was there a missed call.

‘YOUR WASTING PRECIOUS TIME’, she thought. ‘Stop it!’ she told herself. ‘Don’t get frustrated you still have 50 minutes more. He’s not superman!’

As she waited fidgeting with her phone, her mind wavered back into her fantasy:

He was a wonderful guy her ‘prince charming’. The love of her life! Ahhhh… just the thought of him sent butterflies down her tummy. It had been five years since they first started dating. They had come together under the most unpredictable circumstances yet from the first time they had chatted she had known that he was hers. Maybe back then she was looking for a rebound from her horrible love-life. He was her ticket out of a bad past, the past she now regretted! But from the moment Aaron had come into her life it changed dramatically. From just physical, to friends with benefits, then to a one-sided love (from her side) to finally him admitting the same. It had been one hell of a journey, all in all with a lot of tears, twice the number of smiles, the amazing romance, and one really odd couple! They had gone against their better judgments, friend-advices, past learning’s and had simply plunged into the unknown, only to come out more committed to each other than ever! It sent shivers down her spine to even think about him. If this was the effect he had over her after 5 years then she was definitely looking forward to spending the rest of her life with him.

‘beep..beep’

[Awww…so sad baby doll, don wolly. Come here my baby] – A

[??? Cooch I wish u were here with me] – P

[I no baby. Don wolly im always with u in ur heart] –A

[do I hav 2 spell it out 4 u?? u din get the point?? I want you to come hre] –P

[oh :( poo! Ok fine now don make me feel bad]

Priya was utterly confused frustrated and angry as Aaron was getting on her last nerve. She didn’t understand why she was feeling all of those dirty emotions.

Why hadn’t Aaron come to the bus stop in the first place? Isn’t this the same guy who had once stopped the bus in the middle of the road to say goodbye to her one last time. Was this too much to expect out of him? Wasn’t there any way for him to come and meet her? Was she being too selfish?

Her patience was soon wearing off, not that she had a lot but she did love him enough to be calm and patient more often than not.

Her mind started racing and her pulse blew off the charts, she not realized the weight of the heavy bag that was slung over her shoulder. Along with the haversack she was carrying some 18kgs of baggage. she heaved it onto the floor in a frustrated motion. The clock now showed 11:15. ‘GREAT’ she said it out a little too loud, as she received a few stares from the passerby’s.

She gave the ‘What you looking at?’ look to them and they all moved along on their ways. Had she expected something extraordinary out of him? She had taken up the job in Mysore only to be close to him. She could have chosen Mumbai; her dream place. But NO, he wanted her close to her. Close enough to meet her every weekend. He had promised her to come and meet her every alternate weekend. And 8 months had gone by. He hadn’t come once! She on the other hand would come down to her hometown almost every weekend in hopes of spending a few hours. She didn’t care about the sleep she lost over the long night journey’s back every Sunday nights. She didn’t care about the constant back pain she underwent because of the travelling. She didn’t care when she got blasted at home for returning late. She said it was all worth it!

Really?? Was it??

In the eight months that they were apart, she lived alone in a flat, had no friends or relatives and was just getting to know a few good people. It wasn’t this hard when she had to leave him for the first time and had to spend almost 2 years apart when she was pursuing her higher studies in Delhi. Now she cursed herself for not having chosen a better place for her job, where her friends had chosen.

Was this what her destiny was? Over expectation and getting none of it!

[yea im sorry hony. My bad. Don feel bad] –P

[okie :(. R u bein sarcastic?] –A

In her head she thought ‘of course!! Could I be any more sarcastic?’

[no baby. I love u. my bus came. Im going] –P

[don go. Don leave me] –A

[I have to I hav work tomo] –P

[ok. I’ll call u later on the bus.bye. safe journey. Muawah] –A

[sure baby thanks.] –P

As she sat on the bus, she got a call from Aaron.

“Baby are u angry with me?”


“No way honey!!!”


“Your being sarcastic, I’m sorry”


“sure honey no problem. I love you. I’m really tired, I’m off to sleep”


“okie, goodnight, sweetdreams, dream about me”


“yea baby!!! Bye!!!”

As the bus curved moved out of the station and moved towards his house to go to the outskirts of the city, she peeped outside the bus, just hoping to catch a glimpse of him one last time (as he had made this promise of standing out and waving goodbye many a times but had sadly never kept up), before she left…

'Today will be DIFFERENT she told herself, he'll be there waiting for you. He'll make up for not coming to the bus stand.', she thought.
…the corner was empty. No Aaron, only a broken promise!

She was looking forward to the long silent tearful journey ahead!