At the end of the semester,162Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsIJefUguya
when the books were closed,162Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPmKrWzhcPl
and the codes had settled into the silence of completion,162Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTVRxaaK6o9
we were handed something new —162Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzs50Rm9lfa
a task beyond classrooms and labs.
They called it the CSP —162Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNkCL45ckk2
Community Service Project.
It was meant to connect us with the world outside —162Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmTOY5vkBDs
to give back, maybe.162Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdS84ZzwNcb
But for me, it felt more like a pause,162Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeXcltpqHLK
a breath before the next rush.
I didn’t choose my team.162Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEyl5aBmJTI
Or maybe, the team chose me.
It was me,162Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWrfS3cC39k
Merry and Bettie — two girls from my class162Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbllK6RJaXh
who shared more smiles than words with me,162Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbXcnNVKIMA
and Harry, my friend —162Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4QKgx8GGSY
more chaos than calm, but a comfort all the same.
We were a team.162Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtMLlRSWume
Somewhat random, but real.
Our project was rooted in Rajahmundry.162Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7IetnxZEJG
A place far from our usual walls,162Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3kGEKEL46b
where we were to explore farming,162Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡS94LfinExx
to understand flowers, roots, and the earth itself.
It was poetic, in a way.162Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfKVFWdANKY
After all, hadn’t this year been about blooming too?
But there she was again.162Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡq5oo3feoxx
Forevermore.162Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvbB9B9Oyev
And she had her own project, her own path.
With Ren, of course.162Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9PNPCjgt0S
And that girl I met during the festival.162Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeZcOHSPznE
A few others I didn’t know, but it didn’t matter.
They were a team.162Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4JUHpXbG0b
Separate.162Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVx2jeicZe6
Like two parallel poems written in the same language,162Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfSHfnHbkGr
but never on the same page.
We left the city on the same day,162Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡR64v3MZf3z
as if chasing the same sunrise from two different windows.
She took the bus.162Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZMnVViCSDG
I rode a bike.
Same roads, different rhythms.162Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBdl7OvcyAm
That was how it had always been, wasn’t it?
May ended in sweat and soil,162Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5Res0Bn5qQ
laughter echoing in quiet villages,162Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvuGdoG4ulv
us pretending to be farmers, observers, volunteers.162Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGYAZwjWBdK
Somewhere in between the heat and haze,162Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTMnkkrlnSZ
we completed what was asked of us.
But more than the project,162Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhWzrqWx8cf
it was the people.162Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjEnZQkeTnx
The little moments.162Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbAWyFeRBFE
The jokes, the long walks back from fields.162Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡx40X09CxD3
Not everything has to be profound.162Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMGEwKHv5cc
Sometimes, simplicity leaves the deepest roots.
And then,162Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjrtdTAzPsK
came the results.
By late July,162Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpiJwbSsLTr
we were handed the truth of our first year.
CGPA: 8.88
Better than I expected.162Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡz3PLbCxr7o
Worse than I pretended I didn’t care.162Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoaiTguhbVH
It was a number, yes.162Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUnwUB3Ffas
But also a weight lifted.162Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5AemP1UXsp
A reminder that despite everything —162Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4vbJT9m4Uo
I survived, I coded, I lived.162Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQf6yRovdgu
And maybe even bloomed a little.
The second year wasn’t knocking.162Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtgaSHe8BuE
It was already breaking in.
A whole new chapter —162Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9JpqRcnOzc
new faces, maybe some old ones too.162Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2ehfUsMhpW
But more than anything,162Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnvJB4cMtzr
new choices.
And I...162Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡk3uYCtEKqe
was still carrying the echoes of a name I carved softly into my soul.162Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpaIkDlDrP0
