At the end of the semester,41Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMMtWlg74PT
when the books were closed,41Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6mnXb1F2Cj
and the codes had settled into the silence of completion,41Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡF20AGYLupd
we were handed something new —41Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtcNfhG9a24
a task beyond classrooms and labs.
They called it the CSP —41Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7MNo2T8ga5
Community Service Project.
It was meant to connect us with the world outside —41Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHiGUnrfaVS
to give back, maybe.41Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSagmBBS01t
But for me, it felt more like a pause,41Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIAit33VlAN
a breath before the next rush.
I didn’t choose my team.41Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqi272MEUbH
Or maybe, the team chose me.
It was me,41Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuJwpfT3ZrW
Merry and Bettie — two girls from my class41Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuBiKyWS3Mf
who shared more smiles than words with me,41Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4KbsYGF6lw
and Harry, my friend —41Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡX75Oe1kl9g
more chaos than calm, but a comfort all the same.
We were a team.41Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ36t7GQcSOR
Somewhat random, but real.
Our project was rooted in Rajahmundry.41Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqPNT7H0EID
A place far from our usual walls,41Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNFWOHz4y5o
where we were to explore farming,41Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtxXIf3SFFv
to understand flowers, roots, and the earth itself.
It was poetic, in a way.41Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡynDbmWSMEv
After all, hadn’t this year been about blooming too?
But there she was again.41Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfr5DcPoJw7
Forevermore.41Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2kJGHZZFFx
And she had her own project, her own path.
With Ren, of course.41Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡW0PeaYcDR3
And that girl I met during the festival.41Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjs7ISNabFJ
A few others I didn’t know, but it didn’t matter.
They were a team.41Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyrJHDJDMOg
Separate.41Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCiQrLClVyD
Like two parallel poems written in the same language,41Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3fFmgaophM
but never on the same page.
We left the city on the same day,41Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ26XvkGTnA9
as if chasing the same sunrise from two different windows.
She took the bus.41Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0Yh9mqbRJV
I rode a bike.
Same roads, different rhythms.41Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZl7xv8q2ux
That was how it had always been, wasn’t it?
May ended in sweat and soil,41Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyhN5AcGckv
laughter echoing in quiet villages,41Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXIFShgYIme
us pretending to be farmers, observers, volunteers.41Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡp0uBa7PMtt
Somewhere in between the heat and haze,41Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfL9MlvuANP
we completed what was asked of us.
But more than the project,41Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1itnXCsaJF
it was the people.41Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ54bQQaM9Gd
The little moments.41Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKg4VVtG0p7
The jokes, the long walks back from fields.41Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡm8o6vEwK8T
Not everything has to be profound.41Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4tJfBRi9hh
Sometimes, simplicity leaves the deepest roots.
And then,41Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPuDDsWcm72
came the results.
By late July,41Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8OU0oJFcZZ
we were handed the truth of our first year.
CGPA: 8.88
Better than I expected.41Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDaXMa2KuFh
Worse than I pretended I didn’t care.41Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡA2xmu1eO9S
It was a number, yes.41Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNZ6sbk3jI5
But also a weight lifted.41Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡh9MnzQRRVj
A reminder that despite everything —41Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡslsgBZ6j0e
I survived, I coded, I lived.41Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ13o6gJnCcb
And maybe even bloomed a little.
The second year wasn’t knocking.41Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqI4PJtLI8K
It was already breaking in.
A whole new chapter —41Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwOkoUZa9m9
new faces, maybe some old ones too.41Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5oyJkkjfOo
But more than anything,41Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsAP3EZzqDv
new choices.
And I...41Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡavqv7bi1ZM
was still carrying the echoes of a name I carved softly into my soul.41Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxDkXM3FD0y
