At the end of the semester,114Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCqL37X9iqI
when the books were closed,114Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMKPnRctXDZ
and the codes had settled into the silence of completion,114Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbP42j0od6L
we were handed something new —114Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEZ2vUvRISf
a task beyond classrooms and labs.
They called it the CSP —114Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVyFxMkormS
Community Service Project.
It was meant to connect us with the world outside —114Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcDk76PF6iH
to give back, maybe.114Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡT2uZDqVg6x
But for me, it felt more like a pause,114Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvlFjs1tp3J
a breath before the next rush.
I didn’t choose my team.114Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxZaKfiHI03
Or maybe, the team chose me.
It was me,114Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcOychDq6a4
Merry and Bettie — two girls from my class114Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyYNEqCF4iK
who shared more smiles than words with me,114Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0ftooPYTBz
and Harry, my friend —114Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXcyCrAEeyh
more chaos than calm, but a comfort all the same.
We were a team.114Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUCPgi7Dkit
Somewhat random, but real.
Our project was rooted in Rajahmundry.114Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpvAgp7ytP3
A place far from our usual walls,114Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqWvq9enC8e
where we were to explore farming,114Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7E8ptIuE8C
to understand flowers, roots, and the earth itself.
It was poetic, in a way.114Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRiAhMKFrZa
After all, hadn’t this year been about blooming too?
But there she was again.114Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡu0bKtQ7Iyn
Forevermore.114Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4OOVEWz6D1
And she had her own project, her own path.
With Ren, of course.114Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMidKIval6v
And that girl I met during the festival.114Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdxCt7u7AKc
A few others I didn’t know, but it didn’t matter.
They were a team.114Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxUrBxMKgTR
Separate.114Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡalWHI5NSnM
Like two parallel poems written in the same language,114Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmUSOklJxNF
but never on the same page.
We left the city on the same day,114Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVnEqBX3lDd
as if chasing the same sunrise from two different windows.
She took the bus.114Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDVN1Hw7Cjn
I rode a bike.
Same roads, different rhythms.114Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsJ4ZSsnFda
That was how it had always been, wasn’t it?
May ended in sweat and soil,114Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIVzo9mh0kp
laughter echoing in quiet villages,114Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiNa4I3fhlt
us pretending to be farmers, observers, volunteers.114Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡssv31FW500
Somewhere in between the heat and haze,114Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnLuRBjc8dm
we completed what was asked of us.
But more than the project,114Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡseP0tmdy9p
it was the people.114Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5LTHntXkhg
The little moments.114Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJWeBANO4hP
The jokes, the long walks back from fields.114Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOSxCUqnFlk
Not everything has to be profound.114Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5tEzB1CIOD
Sometimes, simplicity leaves the deepest roots.
And then,114Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4FUR03TIge
came the results.
By late July,114Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKts12c920p
we were handed the truth of our first year.
CGPA: 8.88
Better than I expected.114Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCr2Phpuu0s
Worse than I pretended I didn’t care.114Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡon1IFxVIBM
It was a number, yes.114Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtlnPkwk3e6
But also a weight lifted.114Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMm8v48okGS
A reminder that despite everything —114Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8RZKfcs5Ij
I survived, I coded, I lived.114Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiTvplUPjFS
And maybe even bloomed a little.
The second year wasn’t knocking.114Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡK9lhCDDQgB
It was already breaking in.
A whole new chapter —114Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrZE4P8YQNr
new faces, maybe some old ones too.114Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAvJ3icotnh
But more than anything,114Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7i9Khm0ipd
new choices.
And I...114Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9VScQLA8Y4
was still carrying the echoes of a name I carved softly into my soul.114Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeBZKZ81MQn
