At the end of the semester,53Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKj0oDc4aTZ
when the books were closed,53Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJ00fsTQHMT
and the codes had settled into the silence of completion,53Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAY4of7d3eC
we were handed something new —53Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxtCH74ESOs
a task beyond classrooms and labs.
They called it the CSP —53Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlHOvPdQJu5
Community Service Project.
It was meant to connect us with the world outside —53Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoC3fPIUrLj
to give back, maybe.53Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwP78ndIuym
But for me, it felt more like a pause,53Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡb8bCAN4qsT
a breath before the next rush.
I didn’t choose my team.53Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKSdoiN2sEU
Or maybe, the team chose me.
It was me,53Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZHsUQu5zuM
Merry and Bettie — two girls from my class53Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsZy1yEimdW
who shared more smiles than words with me,53Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyuC7THgFJi
and Harry, my friend —53Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUxOfhSTW9Y
more chaos than calm, but a comfort all the same.
We were a team.53Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqWu6zWpGlA
Somewhat random, but real.
Our project was rooted in Rajahmundry.53Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSOnDUXiMmC
A place far from our usual walls,53Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXIglSONa8u
where we were to explore farming,53Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9xm7ibCxrb
to understand flowers, roots, and the earth itself.
It was poetic, in a way.53Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgxeTAwJhw3
After all, hadn’t this year been about blooming too?
But there she was again.53Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvW3w91Bz9z
Forevermore.53Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡStrcx5OVgB
And she had her own project, her own path.
With Ren, of course.53Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡloebrWf0ZY
And that girl I met during the festival.53Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMbif6iJvZ3
A few others I didn’t know, but it didn’t matter.
They were a team.53Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuxFSSxohAx
Separate.53Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbsTEjeQvGP
Like two parallel poems written in the same language,53Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡn6MUZciz7f
but never on the same page.
We left the city on the same day,53Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEwnFZD5daV
as if chasing the same sunrise from two different windows.
She took the bus.53Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcsjN7x98Mw
I rode a bike.
Same roads, different rhythms.53Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡR79NExS5Wp
That was how it had always been, wasn’t it?
May ended in sweat and soil,53Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡq1RKiDf8On
laughter echoing in quiet villages,53Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡh3C2TTqYSK
us pretending to be farmers, observers, volunteers.53Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwvob3XpQww
Somewhere in between the heat and haze,53Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmK3LpAmjRH
we completed what was asked of us.
But more than the project,53Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuYTHK2L8af
it was the people.53Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLkqJWMo4AH
The little moments.53Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4CWgWUIACs
The jokes, the long walks back from fields.53Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyrkYX8kiz9
Not everything has to be profound.53Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡI9lyA1LSGJ
Sometimes, simplicity leaves the deepest roots.
And then,53Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDCN5bO8Oqk
came the results.
By late July,53Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGNlNtU50GD
we were handed the truth of our first year.
CGPA: 8.88
Better than I expected.53Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKLWwPznsfC
Worse than I pretended I didn’t care.53Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRsEKYjz2fY
It was a number, yes.53Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAT7Ace7h3m
But also a weight lifted.53Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIeKlPie8bf
A reminder that despite everything —53Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmLoEfxDdxE
I survived, I coded, I lived.53Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdeF3jhJ2uE
And maybe even bloomed a little.
The second year wasn’t knocking.53Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcIJIvnqZXT
It was already breaking in.
A whole new chapter —53Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZgtOyLu1yM
new faces, maybe some old ones too.53Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡX6f0QiGc1y
But more than anything,53Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4hLRZ4lfqt
new choices.
And I...53Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyheOaQMKNq
was still carrying the echoes of a name I carved softly into my soul.53Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJ3ED2UbguP
