At the end of the semester,28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQKnPuMIYjS
when the books were closed,28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLaaxHMNmrT
and the codes had settled into the silence of completion,28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnyoQEShL8c
we were handed something new —28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPABzc4daj9
a task beyond classrooms and labs.
They called it the CSP —28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBzg5tt2453
Community Service Project.
It was meant to connect us with the world outside —28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuvcGqGZzly
to give back, maybe.28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡB9jk08i2WE
But for me, it felt more like a pause,28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoyD7wUhV7a
a breath before the next rush.
I didn’t choose my team.28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDKkaE3ktAe
Or maybe, the team chose me.
It was me,28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7Esx0xSixR
Merry and Bettie — two girls from my class28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2iaJxV4Rhl
who shared more smiles than words with me,28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡa3VTSqztVv
and Harry, my friend —28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpflqScRRWa
more chaos than calm, but a comfort all the same.
We were a team.28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSE2Io7GCof
Somewhat random, but real.
Our project was rooted in Rajahmundry.28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1LRcS416PW
A place far from our usual walls,28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡt4QJzolwxj
where we were to explore farming,28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡz9vEqXVFDJ
to understand flowers, roots, and the earth itself.
It was poetic, in a way.28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfV5NamjPhm
After all, hadn’t this year been about blooming too?
But there she was again.28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTcpvljXjFm
Forevermore.28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuSJjIzxI58
And she had her own project, her own path.
With Ren, of course.28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡp1rFcLjw3v
And that girl I met during the festival.28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjLTxDFrPr6
A few others I didn’t know, but it didn’t matter.
They were a team.28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsRfutAr0dx
Separate.28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2hw5Hmwtda
Like two parallel poems written in the same language,28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5HvnPdphMR
but never on the same page.
We left the city on the same day,28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTPIFlZiHJ8
as if chasing the same sunrise from two different windows.
She took the bus.28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVe20Wz1uMl
I rode a bike.
Same roads, different rhythms.28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpErHRIo7UK
That was how it had always been, wasn’t it?
May ended in sweat and soil,28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3axaxNtshH
laughter echoing in quiet villages,28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡR27GrDY17S
us pretending to be farmers, observers, volunteers.28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5XS8hnzq6a
Somewhere in between the heat and haze,28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaEGuHL5kjv
we completed what was asked of us.
But more than the project,28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡloJ6N02zVQ
it was the people.28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWLFe72WL7X
The little moments.28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZjvBNdAwWT
The jokes, the long walks back from fields.28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjsF1pxA1Te
Not everything has to be profound.28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkYt0wtaBv9
Sometimes, simplicity leaves the deepest roots.
And then,28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdTGNwivuLa
came the results.
By late July,28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1olqn2tCEt
we were handed the truth of our first year.
CGPA: 8.88
Better than I expected.28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0WNuRuO1ev
Worse than I pretended I didn’t care.28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWBMDbDiD7B
It was a number, yes.28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxLtI8ps44Q
But also a weight lifted.28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6sJf7LZLQu
A reminder that despite everything —28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEgxslVfxXI
I survived, I coded, I lived.28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHiAyQNSTBd
And maybe even bloomed a little.
The second year wasn’t knocking.28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYGxZA0FZPl
It was already breaking in.
A whole new chapter —28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5wyrzpEWPd
new faces, maybe some old ones too.28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3UMBwlPraV
But more than anything,28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9IXHKvCVjh
new choices.
And I...28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwGJI0B1jRY
was still carrying the echoes of a name I carved softly into my soul.28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡq1EK86azsN
