At the end of the semester,115Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEC8wqbwoZp
when the books were closed,115Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTu8fyX86AT
and the codes had settled into the silence of completion,115Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwvINMY8Gcj
we were handed something new —115Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsrBHtCy3sv
a task beyond classrooms and labs.
They called it the CSP —115Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7Xq7qyT98w
Community Service Project.
It was meant to connect us with the world outside —115Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXVYIjf3M81
to give back, maybe.115Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1VoY7HC66f
But for me, it felt more like a pause,115Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDxYKaXjjNI
a breath before the next rush.
I didn’t choose my team.115Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9ulpJbcGHd
Or maybe, the team chose me.
It was me,115Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡat02xecKvE
Merry and Bettie — two girls from my class115Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPC6QVKa2z0
who shared more smiles than words with me,115Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡavuzbzJ9vh
and Harry, my friend —115Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbym1KBB4HJ
more chaos than calm, but a comfort all the same.
We were a team.115Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpLlnzFzYLE
Somewhat random, but real.
Our project was rooted in Rajahmundry.115Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdSPbidY5e8
A place far from our usual walls,115Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVrrtAUfyRT
where we were to explore farming,115Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpzaxzNxXHj
to understand flowers, roots, and the earth itself.
It was poetic, in a way.115Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvHTjPJ58Zc
After all, hadn’t this year been about blooming too?
But there she was again.115Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyvjlemK3Ti
Forevermore.115Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZgGJ5OJqDb
And she had her own project, her own path.
With Ren, of course.115Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiNCjddpCfb
And that girl I met during the festival.115Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvJ1Ia77S7U
A few others I didn’t know, but it didn’t matter.
They were a team.115Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRmkFtg1Cww
Separate.115Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwUn2WDHlEi
Like two parallel poems written in the same language,115Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAw1f5U8XbH
but never on the same page.
We left the city on the same day,115Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡii4BFwLLpV
as if chasing the same sunrise from two different windows.
She took the bus.115Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡU1LA2WR4kE
I rode a bike.
Same roads, different rhythms.115Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIzyV5MbJeB
That was how it had always been, wasn’t it?
May ended in sweat and soil,115Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡk0DFt3S0LT
laughter echoing in quiet villages,115Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUlAI5khspx
us pretending to be farmers, observers, volunteers.115Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeJUl0uyX9z
Somewhere in between the heat and haze,115Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbLvwGwHgGn
we completed what was asked of us.
But more than the project,115Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡx1XrS9llWl
it was the people.115Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡq4qiw9V55P
The little moments.115Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡchzbvs4gtI
The jokes, the long walks back from fields.115Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfnk6eqL5D0
Not everything has to be profound.115Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFQQhCuB5LO
Sometimes, simplicity leaves the deepest roots.
And then,115Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡj8DVkU5pHf
came the results.
By late July,115Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeytcm39Byv
we were handed the truth of our first year.
CGPA: 8.88
Better than I expected.115Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdPvb1Uqi0y
Worse than I pretended I didn’t care.115Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡn4orkDCBtC
It was a number, yes.115Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsxWfzGLDHb
But also a weight lifted.115Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoG4p2PUtxl
A reminder that despite everything —115Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSFNjcw4q40
I survived, I coded, I lived.115Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXNf4PXXdLx
And maybe even bloomed a little.
The second year wasn’t knocking.115Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlhLZVRDw1o
It was already breaking in.
A whole new chapter —115Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡP7PxXpV6Ae
new faces, maybe some old ones too.115Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡp5vkUlxpsf
But more than anything,115Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡo4FZoRmijy
new choices.
And I...115Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfE5RlFh5Lk
was still carrying the echoes of a name I carved softly into my soul.115Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqtSmdMEDOc
