At the end of the semester,142Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ88e7Zgwbw9
when the books were closed,142Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCbJly6PNuH
and the codes had settled into the silence of completion,142Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡC1Pfhc6jGk
we were handed something new —142Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡu3t1xbP7xW
a task beyond classrooms and labs.
They called it the CSP —142Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbem9PeTWl8
Community Service Project.
It was meant to connect us with the world outside —142Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡN4mQJTp7op
to give back, maybe.142Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaDS6W0Kjjv
But for me, it felt more like a pause,142Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvrNmdZtVih
a breath before the next rush.
I didn’t choose my team.142Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBEd8aGoHAi
Or maybe, the team chose me.
It was me,142Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡk8Du7kB55t
Merry and Bettie — two girls from my class142Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0O49g2wm2v
who shared more smiles than words with me,142Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3ISY1C8WFO
and Harry, my friend —142Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9NHkD4lCnu
more chaos than calm, but a comfort all the same.
We were a team.142Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgj69RdgEMs
Somewhat random, but real.
Our project was rooted in Rajahmundry.142Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8hmGnilyjM
A place far from our usual walls,142Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbqm9zi9Mhu
where we were to explore farming,142Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDs55g0sZaG
to understand flowers, roots, and the earth itself.
It was poetic, in a way.142Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkZ20lTlKdh
After all, hadn’t this year been about blooming too?
But there she was again.142Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIec3qHgGyP
Forevermore.142Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxK0dhXPA6L
And she had her own project, her own path.
With Ren, of course.142Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡam4ZCLX3rr
And that girl I met during the festival.142Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjJM1LVxl1K
A few others I didn’t know, but it didn’t matter.
They were a team.142Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡR3qCmuAV1C
Separate.142Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLkVQMCicPG
Like two parallel poems written in the same language,142Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqGIBGQoNI5
but never on the same page.
We left the city on the same day,142Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡih1e3sMqFG
as if chasing the same sunrise from two different windows.
She took the bus.142Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0k7GTPHcQ3
I rode a bike.
Same roads, different rhythms.142Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMjTTogFy5S
That was how it had always been, wasn’t it?
May ended in sweat and soil,142Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhI06KcexlN
laughter echoing in quiet villages,142Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaaiznCGS8u
us pretending to be farmers, observers, volunteers.142Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQTm2Yp92cJ
Somewhere in between the heat and haze,142Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLkmoAp7ply
we completed what was asked of us.
But more than the project,142Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8mqrN8Ku7X
it was the people.142Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCqMFvavBSZ
The little moments.142Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3uHPr6fvHS
The jokes, the long walks back from fields.142Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIMNQhS6bpJ
Not everything has to be profound.142Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKUceIkJbaK
Sometimes, simplicity leaves the deepest roots.
And then,142Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfg32EH2ma9
came the results.
By late July,142Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtQTOJihrUn
we were handed the truth of our first year.
CGPA: 8.88
Better than I expected.142Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFdThzrTWrb
Worse than I pretended I didn’t care.142Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡE2ED6wPGaQ
It was a number, yes.142Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNfovEVwuZC
But also a weight lifted.142Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9D9icO2UVF
A reminder that despite everything —142Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5FmEbjeqMK
I survived, I coded, I lived.142Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIcVSf0wK7m
And maybe even bloomed a little.
The second year wasn’t knocking.142Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEMxYuAP8XG
It was already breaking in.
A whole new chapter —142Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKIvq0L75uv
new faces, maybe some old ones too.142Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmHmTLeIpfq
But more than anything,142Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnaT86rcQ7D
new choices.
And I...142Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡY4PjrFwg39
was still carrying the echoes of a name I carved softly into my soul.142Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIjYZVHG3nJ
