At the end of the semester,116Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwNuSIpi36z
when the books were closed,116Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ61zhRZ5E4M
and the codes had settled into the silence of completion,116Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUrlflvnESk
we were handed something new —116Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSblW2wydbS
a task beyond classrooms and labs.
They called it the CSP —116Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡp8xVZt4HuV
Community Service Project.
It was meant to connect us with the world outside —116Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFh0FrIokQE
to give back, maybe.116Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCzPQyQsIFy
But for me, it felt more like a pause,116Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQ6yXstZ9xa
a breath before the next rush.
I didn’t choose my team.116Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0GSnh4M5xi
Or maybe, the team chose me.
It was me,116Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9779AxVv5S
Merry and Bettie — two girls from my class116Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVQ174ShHXM
who shared more smiles than words with me,116Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCqY4FrIsEv
and Harry, my friend —116Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzYczQlpLCu
more chaos than calm, but a comfort all the same.
We were a team.116Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNTB1SQHN2Q
Somewhat random, but real.
Our project was rooted in Rajahmundry.116Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ30wRZ1S2ir
A place far from our usual walls,116Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡArKiarC7Np
where we were to explore farming,116Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1sh8qx1OYJ
to understand flowers, roots, and the earth itself.
It was poetic, in a way.116Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXzYjxrE0Jk
After all, hadn’t this year been about blooming too?
But there she was again.116Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4m20nUNBkW
Forevermore.116Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvZXnBsLmec
And she had her own project, her own path.
With Ren, of course.116Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAfRg5KHLVG
And that girl I met during the festival.116Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMA0D39FkWq
A few others I didn’t know, but it didn’t matter.
They were a team.116Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8PaMx1h3zn
Separate.116Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEJdnA9KtuM
Like two parallel poems written in the same language,116Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqyKcMeP0jd
but never on the same page.
We left the city on the same day,116Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡh3Feg1f4SK
as if chasing the same sunrise from two different windows.
She took the bus.116Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpIjClh4a6x
I rode a bike.
Same roads, different rhythms.116Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3jX1JAMGWt
That was how it had always been, wasn’t it?
May ended in sweat and soil,116Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡohGGUsi9KQ
laughter echoing in quiet villages,116Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRpmyxNF7Dr
us pretending to be farmers, observers, volunteers.116Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ60MEC5LO5I
Somewhere in between the heat and haze,116Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBeXv8BsTkC
we completed what was asked of us.
But more than the project,116Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoirQJLuoUu
it was the people.116Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPvNCm9l4nN
The little moments.116Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3EFOnz2vkj
The jokes, the long walks back from fields.116Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwwkZR87zQb
Not everything has to be profound.116Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzOJqgXC9PU
Sometimes, simplicity leaves the deepest roots.
And then,116Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3CPlueFqNU
came the results.
By late July,116Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSHnrFcIRlL
we were handed the truth of our first year.
CGPA: 8.88
Better than I expected.116Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡG6usbKGWpn
Worse than I pretended I didn’t care.116Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7X0zyZLuhU
It was a number, yes.116Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡi0i22FQxop
But also a weight lifted.116Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBLFk9ufLQ3
A reminder that despite everything —116Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡos5PHgjiUF
I survived, I coded, I lived.116Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzytwWgvn3x
And maybe even bloomed a little.
The second year wasn’t knocking.116Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkFsAXWHI8e
It was already breaking in.
A whole new chapter —116Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOhOcxGYSvi
new faces, maybe some old ones too.116Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhnUTbC6M5q
But more than anything,116Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsTbGbEDysb
new choices.
And I...116Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZCDzXARbKa
was still carrying the echoes of a name I carved softly into my soul.116Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQCxz8j84eU
