This semester was…112Please respect copyright.PENANADoEOpJfmaP
different.112Please respect copyright.PENANA5kf36Mei76
Special, maybe.112Please respect copyright.PENANACBZB7dUT08
Not because of what was taught —112Please respect copyright.PENANAMqUYFFGVxg
but because of how we lived it.
They filtered out a handful of us —112Please respect copyright.PENANAg3BtHlhrTi
called us the Bamboo Coders.112Please respect copyright.PENANAw7fjaJTfLB
A name that felt funny at first,112Please respect copyright.PENANATx4ZF97jLw
but later —112Please respect copyright.PENANAA3BDjfJG0u
it became a badge of sorts.112Please respect copyright.PENANAkdz3dxX6tz
A sign that we were the ones chosen,112Please respect copyright.PENANAoU0bJIzC1L
to be sharpened.
We were given three days in the week,112Please respect copyright.PENANAp2MUusj7uv
and half of the rest —112Please respect copyright.PENANAwHsRMOhZRf
to lose ourselves in Java, Python,112Please respect copyright.PENANAK2f3HxkSuF
and Advanced Data Structures112Please respect copyright.PENANA6i5G9BYRRe
in the walls of Technical Hub.
And she was there too.112Please respect copyright.PENANAgQZ0M5arcU
Forevermore.
So were Ramu, Richard, Ren, Krish,112Please respect copyright.PENANAVfDXbopSL1
Andrew, Simon, Harry —112Please respect copyright.PENANAqPrQBUjlQX
a mix of voices, minds, and laughter.
It became our world.112Please respect copyright.PENANArOtshK0cEj
A bubble made of keyboard clicks,112Please respect copyright.PENANAsi7GIRLAJM
mugged-up syntax, half-finished jokes,112Please respect copyright.PENANABBKQAVr6rR
and dreams stitched in code.
In the middle of all the laughter,112Please respect copyright.PENANAaFR9v6lO9N
battles of logic,112Please respect copyright.PENANAJTKxwtP58K
and the warmth of friendship —112Please respect copyright.PENANAN57LUlvlHw
there stood someone we all admired112Please respect copyright.PENANAgrlTqpD56H
but hardly spoke about.
Ashok sir.
He wasn’t just a teacher.112Please respect copyright.PENANA4cLAtZWV9M
He was a man with a gaze full of distant fires,112Please respect copyright.PENANAquLqXBESrT
a quiet dreamer who hid oceans behind his silence.112Please respect copyright.PENANAbpXR5DoQKv
112Please respect copyright.PENANAZVyFhBBpgr
He taught us Advanced Data Structure. While Pavan Sir, taught us the remaining.112Please respect copyright.PENANAeOSqGf7gwF
Java and Python.
He was, to me,112Please respect copyright.PENANAGxzH4FeCbQ
a dream flower —112Please respect copyright.PENANACtTZFysTWR
blooming with brilliance,112Please respect copyright.PENANA2zhXAch5XU
but rooted too deep in a soil that wouldn’t let him move.112Please respect copyright.PENANAKLIkeTjBe0
He wanted to do something.112Please respect copyright.PENANAOmfJzbZzGE
You could feel it.112Please respect copyright.PENANAFoJ9hjZWpF
But something always held him back.
Maybe responsibilities.112Please respect copyright.PENANAiBcGRTnCzb
Maybe fear.112Please respect copyright.PENANAZELvCLn89e
Maybe time had just moved too fast112Please respect copyright.PENANAwDMRKVUrUb
before he could catch it.112Please respect copyright.PENANA5Dczj8VCpo
112Please respect copyright.PENANAROqaVqi5PU
He always say:
“Hard work doesn’t guarantee success…112Please respect copyright.PENANA7N07ThbKrs
but it always leaves behind a version of you112Please respect copyright.PENANALLzZ5Gwg7o
that deserved it.”
Because Ashok sir may have not reached where he once dreamed of…112Please respect copyright.PENANAhqItILLnDS
but he will make sure we do.
With Ravikanth and other seniors guiding us,112Please respect copyright.PENANAJiyOU77VPL
it became my playground.112Please respect copyright.PENANA4s3RKCHjkI
There, I was free.112Please respect copyright.PENANAQq9zXsIYGy
Playing, laughing, coding, dancing —112Please respect copyright.PENANAi9kvp06I4Q
No one could stop me.112Please respect copyright.PENANAeR0vEatBvA
Especially not when I had Richard beside me.112Please respect copyright.PENANACIHYyguYk0
We were fire and wind —112Please respect copyright.PENANA4Oofdr5tww
Unstoppable.
But with Forevermore —112Please respect copyright.PENANAmrf6Zvr4U7
ghosting and misunderstandings came like clouds after sunshine.112Please respect copyright.PENANAi3EOxUgqUz
Random, uninvited…112Please respect copyright.PENANAGX3BEJZtaZ
but somehow familiar.
Still, every evening,112Please respect copyright.PENANAAIMysfaJqQ
me, her, and Ren112Please respect copyright.PENANA7TOH8gIMVL
would meet near her bus112Please respect copyright.PENANA1REHJ3Jz2R
and talk until the engines hummed and the wheels turned.
Then one day,112Please respect copyright.PENANA2PmYiIDcF0
she asked me something.
Something simple —112Please respect copyright.PENANATDd06RSRnE
about Japanese placements.
And I told her everything I knew.112Please respect copyright.PENANA3TqSjEypui
And when I said I was preparing too,112Please respect copyright.PENANA9JbrN07ZCA
she smiled —112Please respect copyright.PENANATJGNacvw46
a kind of silent joy,112Please respect copyright.PENANA0zmacwSV6l
and said,
"We could do this together...112Please respect copyright.PENANAihICbokiKp
Same boat, right?112Please respect copyright.PENANASwrykxhWKJ
Even if I stop, you’ll keep going."
And there, in that one moment,112Please respect copyright.PENANAIe4TOFvDVS
I felt it.112Please respect copyright.PENANA78rsOYPYIJ
That I had become someone112Please respect copyright.PENANApK9dz9a1mg
she could lean on.112Please respect copyright.PENANAH0ZNjMcE8y
Someone she believed in.
It meant everything.
But a thought floated quietly behind that smile…
“If we weren’t in the same boat,112Please respect copyright.PENANAXkCqisDAhw
would she still think of me?”
Would she still see me,112Please respect copyright.PENANA4TjjPz5KIT
or would I be ghosted — again, unknowingly —112Please respect copyright.PENANA0NAo0JbmWx
like she once said she does?
But I let that thought dissolve.112Please respect copyright.PENANABlUqOAPB5E
Because this was a moment worth keeping.
We began learning together.112Please respect copyright.PENANAVMwrrXHNDF
Late nights, whispering over calls,112Please respect copyright.PENANAFpek1GNjbX
solving Java problems,112Please respect copyright.PENANAYPxoUFj1yS
sharing notes,112Please respect copyright.PENANAPTMPCEqTyD
and pretending it was a “revision” for me112Please respect copyright.PENANAAHpZm0vcvQ
— just so she wouldn’t feel guilty.
She didn’t know112Please respect copyright.PENANAgrmOwK9vc9
how much I had pushed myself112Please respect copyright.PENANAJegCCHqZ3i
to catch up,112Please respect copyright.PENANAcYbLrZUlTi
to be useful.112Please respect copyright.PENANAMMM4coL7CV
To be… enough.
But that was okay.112Please respect copyright.PENANAwQixR6itsi
Because I wasn’t doing it for recognition.112Please respect copyright.PENANAx6fG3eoHFZ
I was doing it for her.
Mornings were Technical Hub.112Please respect copyright.PENANAbBuxtUMcR4
Evenings — I’d walk her to the bus.
Her bus was parked in the middle of the college ground.112Please respect copyright.PENANAZsLUt7seLa
Mine was to the right.112Please respect copyright.PENANAlp6jTvWywU
Ren’s to the left.
Like a reflection of where we all stood.112Please respect copyright.PENANAGrXJVenjLD
Her — at the center.112Please respect copyright.PENANAhEehD26Ea1
Me — watching from a distance.112Please respect copyright.PENANAI7FWePXJJW
Ren — never too far.
And in between all this,112Please respect copyright.PENANANDntVWOrQG
her birthday came.
I wanted to give her something…112Please respect copyright.PENANAi2V0i597y5
something that wouldn’t fade,112Please respect copyright.PENANAoKg9Mr3KJP
even if I did.112Please respect copyright.PENANAb50i7r1zqr
A piece of me she could keep,112Please respect copyright.PENANAuxihN1edpp
even if I someday became112Please respect copyright.PENANAxfcYJ4kGu9
just another name in her memories.
I thought of what she loved most —112Please respect copyright.PENANAw24g6bOp5s
Harry Potter.
Seven books.112Please respect copyright.PENANAScUP89hCVZ
Seven stories that shaped her.
One of many that she holds the closest.
I wanted to give her all of them.112Please respect copyright.PENANAilnLAcM4qY
Not at once — It would be a overkill,112Please respect copyright.PENANA2wn4qJ5bIp
but over time.112Please respect copyright.PENANAGUvhdXsGLN
112Please respect copyright.PENANA8n11F4iVYR
Over three years.112Please respect copyright.PENANA5AlYdgbVWv
Because that’s how long we’d get to see each other,112Please respect copyright.PENANAZP4ZSQBVzh
in this college, in this life.
A slow gift.112Please respect copyright.PENANA613wFrDKmZ
A promise across seasons.
Not just a present —112Please respect copyright.PENANAPCgbeSrb4m
but a quiet wish.
ns216.73.216.25da2That maybe even if I couldn’t stay in her story forever,112Please respect copyright.PENANAdZLtmXIW6j
I’d be a chapter worth rereading.