At the end of the semester,38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpa7xWYAIcI
when the books were closed,38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8yX408nFqd
and the codes had settled into the silence of completion,38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgehRKcFgKR
we were handed something new —38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKss76Ca3SA
a task beyond classrooms and labs.
They called it the CSP —38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUG1hZ11fgb
Community Service Project.
It was meant to connect us with the world outside —38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUkmdEWkbqh
to give back, maybe.38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRyecC7qCyM
But for me, it felt more like a pause,38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxoNsc8TUsd
a breath before the next rush.
I didn’t choose my team.38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBQJwh5nvnU
Or maybe, the team chose me.
It was me,38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡP5L6uhq9Am
Merry and Bettie — two girls from my class38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjC7ZHXHTYd
who shared more smiles than words with me,38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeTjash6yUh
and Harry, my friend —38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGDhQq9vjp7
more chaos than calm, but a comfort all the same.
We were a team.38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdDiC8LjPrD
Somewhat random, but real.
Our project was rooted in Rajahmundry.38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ24lSqS3QVc
A place far from our usual walls,38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡK4EDap0eZp
where we were to explore farming,38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQwnrkBH3T0
to understand flowers, roots, and the earth itself.
It was poetic, in a way.38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0fA6cRWUJ3
After all, hadn’t this year been about blooming too?
But there she was again.38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡajY6s9R3Y8
Forevermore.38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4ftgAjrHNy
And she had her own project, her own path.
With Ren, of course.38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkgAbUHn0sv
And that girl I met during the festival.38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5o9nc5pPv6
A few others I didn’t know, but it didn’t matter.
They were a team.38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcgnqCzNE3m
Separate.38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKlFnRZyNjp
Like two parallel poems written in the same language,38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrYxIDmBQSt
but never on the same page.
We left the city on the same day,38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡapiJUpBPio
as if chasing the same sunrise from two different windows.
She took the bus.38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiZGPDsj1VC
I rode a bike.
Same roads, different rhythms.38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOfSxU02X1Z
That was how it had always been, wasn’t it?
May ended in sweat and soil,38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzdpsdQutT0
laughter echoing in quiet villages,38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlNc30YOpBG
us pretending to be farmers, observers, volunteers.38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVK4DvcCvuz
Somewhere in between the heat and haze,38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMGOttY0YzX
we completed what was asked of us.
But more than the project,38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡETuhYFjDoF
it was the people.38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlENlmzx9kn
The little moments.38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0oCHTLY4TM
The jokes, the long walks back from fields.38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMWlTyCmLeZ
Not everything has to be profound.38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡITAiUu6NhI
Sometimes, simplicity leaves the deepest roots.
And then,38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZs0ixptlAt
came the results.
By late July,38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqpI3UTX08T
we were handed the truth of our first year.
CGPA: 8.88
Better than I expected.38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxW6errsybq
Worse than I pretended I didn’t care.38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ09IzZVinP5
It was a number, yes.38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwsh3ttaSYb
But also a weight lifted.38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnbp1bx2PUG
A reminder that despite everything —38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxiNPI1qmWb
I survived, I coded, I lived.38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIlMnrLrx4V
And maybe even bloomed a little.
The second year wasn’t knocking.38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8hCh9QaHGg
It was already breaking in.
A whole new chapter —38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHkSqQnZGxB
new faces, maybe some old ones too.38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4dGh9jzSzY
But more than anything,38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVy3s4aWuWi
new choices.
And I...38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7PHT77cfK9
was still carrying the echoes of a name I carved softly into my soul.38Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2nfifz3MfT
