At the end of the semester,101Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡF976LjeL7d
when the books were closed,101Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡX9cgvwelP7
and the codes had settled into the silence of completion,101Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzzBkw6bmsP
we were handed something new —101Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUvpVgcD3G6
a task beyond classrooms and labs.
They called it the CSP —101Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4dN4xnXVxf
Community Service Project.
It was meant to connect us with the world outside —101Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJ4HLImojBn
to give back, maybe.101Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkNXJZp3jbc
But for me, it felt more like a pause,101Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡu0H0OSZ9oJ
a breath before the next rush.
I didn’t choose my team.101Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQptLmPEVO0
Or maybe, the team chose me.
It was me,101Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLc6klCVEY2
Merry and Bettie — two girls from my class101Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOLVPYBAbhb
who shared more smiles than words with me,101Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡb6vIZR5nix
and Harry, my friend —101Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlFbwOwadBn
more chaos than calm, but a comfort all the same.
We were a team.101Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyhG1dvsLSl
Somewhat random, but real.
Our project was rooted in Rajahmundry.101Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPfDI2pJxIA
A place far from our usual walls,101Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQmTD2JiBQ6
where we were to explore farming,101Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtmydmiP2vg
to understand flowers, roots, and the earth itself.
It was poetic, in a way.101Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrs3OsmxpEJ
After all, hadn’t this year been about blooming too?
But there she was again.101Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHkj76GpW8p
Forevermore.101Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvF3mqId4WM
And she had her own project, her own path.
With Ren, of course.101Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5UN48ZS9Xp
And that girl I met during the festival.101Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXiXVxTzYIn
A few others I didn’t know, but it didn’t matter.
They were a team.101Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFiJeec2bFb
Separate.101Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHfDY6kscQp
Like two parallel poems written in the same language,101Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡO73aiZH336
but never on the same page.
We left the city on the same day,101Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZryJsptCLS
as if chasing the same sunrise from two different windows.
She took the bus.101Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡerBesvfG53
I rode a bike.
Same roads, different rhythms.101Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwNxJhOl5jP
That was how it had always been, wasn’t it?
May ended in sweat and soil,101Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡe2nqs11aXi
laughter echoing in quiet villages,101Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5QjmHdxbMU
us pretending to be farmers, observers, volunteers.101Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhrz3qZiTHx
Somewhere in between the heat and haze,101Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTUT594cvBE
we completed what was asked of us.
But more than the project,101Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIjG2dq1KYB
it was the people.101Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡa9mzQ1oszf
The little moments.101Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtYwBFtk6vt
The jokes, the long walks back from fields.101Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrktP86EKZv
Not everything has to be profound.101Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeCK7Vs4Ppz
Sometimes, simplicity leaves the deepest roots.
And then,101Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXZGS3kwjon
came the results.
By late July,101Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡV4Ur7W5F23
we were handed the truth of our first year.
CGPA: 8.88
Better than I expected.101Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡciTMe5iLQL
Worse than I pretended I didn’t care.101Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ60VCnQTfhl
It was a number, yes.101Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdkJBN7PV2H
But also a weight lifted.101Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuqSS8i4Tae
A reminder that despite everything —101Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡn1MYB8LSn3
I survived, I coded, I lived.101Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEYaRWdjUhf
And maybe even bloomed a little.
The second year wasn’t knocking.101Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqnyJEYP5wD
It was already breaking in.
A whole new chapter —101Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHUmdf12beL
new faces, maybe some old ones too.101Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEP77LyHnoF
But more than anything,101Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXx23nJUnqj
new choices.
And I...101Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQ2MBb0zkqm
was still carrying the echoes of a name I carved softly into my soul.101Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFvZWUKpkX0
