At the end of the semester,33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXYDj0cNOWU
when the books were closed,33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1TUKi8oDvp
and the codes had settled into the silence of completion,33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJamTUjuDBA
we were handed something new —33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpRGSL13ZUb
a task beyond classrooms and labs.
They called it the CSP —33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFLqIwMAdX9
Community Service Project.
It was meant to connect us with the world outside —33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNB7ylTjNWF
to give back, maybe.33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEE0UlbVavn
But for me, it felt more like a pause,33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡszveFzjHOO
a breath before the next rush.
I didn’t choose my team.33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZiMQmVP6yi
Or maybe, the team chose me.
It was me,33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡV8qjbbhQeY
Merry and Bettie — two girls from my class33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡT4TbC0Owwz
who shared more smiles than words with me,33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhSqzeX8cRz
and Harry, my friend —33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsHTcsbVJgP
more chaos than calm, but a comfort all the same.
We were a team.33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQoAxvsOZ1V
Somewhat random, but real.
Our project was rooted in Rajahmundry.33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCgAZWAPEXF
A place far from our usual walls,33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEAhLURu4Ue
where we were to explore farming,33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡN9OIS9SslS
to understand flowers, roots, and the earth itself.
It was poetic, in a way.33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpIG4JmzJ7k
After all, hadn’t this year been about blooming too?
But there she was again.33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5gxkPEll1G
Forevermore.33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoELvQsVjMm
And she had her own project, her own path.
With Ren, of course.33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡt48XsVRVfp
And that girl I met during the festival.33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡD5JeouaAbL
A few others I didn’t know, but it didn’t matter.
They were a team.33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCt24VvW9Ny
Separate.33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6R68RmQqAq
Like two parallel poems written in the same language,33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHwIsPeVmxw
but never on the same page.
We left the city on the same day,33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEgN6gANUzr
as if chasing the same sunrise from two different windows.
She took the bus.33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJMn3h1AQZe
I rode a bike.
Same roads, different rhythms.33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHTbMEAaHRv
That was how it had always been, wasn’t it?
May ended in sweat and soil,33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡv9FTgyAObQ
laughter echoing in quiet villages,33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDaAPqA9Cn9
us pretending to be farmers, observers, volunteers.33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDBzPQnHT25
Somewhere in between the heat and haze,33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFjSeNBenrx
we completed what was asked of us.
But more than the project,33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzP5jCE53m0
it was the people.33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbOWlmslIOC
The little moments.33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTkkMfd8dT8
The jokes, the long walks back from fields.33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsMTfnqh0cK
Not everything has to be profound.33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPWfo5cVTjW
Sometimes, simplicity leaves the deepest roots.
And then,33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4V2zpGZgFR
came the results.
By late July,33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYtYWzhhJHq
we were handed the truth of our first year.
CGPA: 8.88
Better than I expected.33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMzOB7rvmlE
Worse than I pretended I didn’t care.33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYjnQUqzdee
It was a number, yes.33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAYYxEux86Y
But also a weight lifted.33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9L7OqUlfoe
A reminder that despite everything —33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4pjIpW2Yn5
I survived, I coded, I lived.33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHO8t7A1qTH
And maybe even bloomed a little.
The second year wasn’t knocking.33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡF2cHV2SuU1
It was already breaking in.
A whole new chapter —33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡj9SPJ84OBF
new faces, maybe some old ones too.33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡepofeJjjZh
But more than anything,33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYsjWW03yFV
new choices.
And I...33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEj8oOXzTvI
was still carrying the echoes of a name I carved softly into my soul.33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBUl0tW5A5n
