At the end of the semester,104Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡG20iIA6xpt
when the books were closed,104Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpLaMhsKbkE
and the codes had settled into the silence of completion,104Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSvaIlwogJT
we were handed something new —104Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWvMy6KN5gt
a task beyond classrooms and labs.
They called it the CSP —104Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAzQhz7uxAH
Community Service Project.
It was meant to connect us with the world outside —104Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcfwNYVkxzE
to give back, maybe.104Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡY8kPqe3wCe
But for me, it felt more like a pause,104Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ38y4XNkLpa
a breath before the next rush.
I didn’t choose my team.104Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyMLFTzL3nS
Or maybe, the team chose me.
It was me,104Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtA1rT1QhoM
Merry and Bettie — two girls from my class104Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOvaJ0E21EK
who shared more smiles than words with me,104Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTkNCuU1XSx
and Harry, my friend —104Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7ergT553ni
more chaos than calm, but a comfort all the same.
We were a team.104Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYGLuY9zyXZ
Somewhat random, but real.
Our project was rooted in Rajahmundry.104Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡysBkzOS6hy
A place far from our usual walls,104Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuABSoEM482
where we were to explore farming,104Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmaNgHZdIh7
to understand flowers, roots, and the earth itself.
It was poetic, in a way.104Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxX4ZuxdhPK
After all, hadn’t this year been about blooming too?
But there she was again.104Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPgClzb8nZ7
Forevermore.104Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyrTWF9pslX
And she had her own project, her own path.
With Ren, of course.104Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡufYkukjJfd
And that girl I met during the festival.104Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYjACDkBN1g
A few others I didn’t know, but it didn’t matter.
They were a team.104Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyJFZdtrclC
Separate.104Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡir1QVpH4xG
Like two parallel poems written in the same language,104Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡs0JOQEW9OW
but never on the same page.
We left the city on the same day,104Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmHEnJuHMam
as if chasing the same sunrise from two different windows.
She took the bus.104Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpBYprysd0C
I rode a bike.
Same roads, different rhythms.104Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3vFNLy32We
That was how it had always been, wasn’t it?
May ended in sweat and soil,104Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHha4wEQsO5
laughter echoing in quiet villages,104Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTpzhJVsRiF
us pretending to be farmers, observers, volunteers.104Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7xJwJWe3wx
Somewhere in between the heat and haze,104Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIQESGv7iKH
we completed what was asked of us.
But more than the project,104Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGMijc8gG27
it was the people.104Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPZA4Lliwo8
The little moments.104Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgZZWVkNfO7
The jokes, the long walks back from fields.104Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ38F0eWeh1N
Not everything has to be profound.104Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6Fk3cZkLTP
Sometimes, simplicity leaves the deepest roots.
And then,104Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnY09nqnx8X
came the results.
By late July,104Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdkvGsf63As
we were handed the truth of our first year.
CGPA: 8.88
Better than I expected.104Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡs4y3ifiDag
Worse than I pretended I didn’t care.104Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdTVFNYxGn9
It was a number, yes.104Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMc17mQh7BF
But also a weight lifted.104Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhR6tC7I4mg
A reminder that despite everything —104Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrQUasoWpCA
I survived, I coded, I lived.104Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3jzDnxgiHn
And maybe even bloomed a little.
The second year wasn’t knocking.104Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡodcgS3Pp2v
It was already breaking in.
A whole new chapter —104Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRcOtjkcFxS
new faces, maybe some old ones too.104Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡG7ZVzxJhCI
But more than anything,104Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSecT4aRHcA
new choices.
And I...104Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3jHQjvbGjw
was still carrying the echoes of a name I carved softly into my soul.104Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8iupIj9DkO
