At the end of the semester,41Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡj9zsjuxPeU
when the books were closed,41Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGdlfaPxLBT
and the codes had settled into the silence of completion,41Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOUtsiLrYaZ
we were handed something new —41Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkCarBRGcfc
a task beyond classrooms and labs.
They called it the CSP —41Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAr2eQfGADV
Community Service Project.
It was meant to connect us with the world outside —41Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcHbNrQK0uU
to give back, maybe.41Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCquSmPzciF
But for me, it felt more like a pause,41Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡodXtYNxyGj
a breath before the next rush.
I didn’t choose my team.41Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0wwKW9j02M
Or maybe, the team chose me.
It was me,41Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡK5vLndXmXs
Merry and Bettie — two girls from my class41Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJfAcSR0DcJ
who shared more smiles than words with me,41Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJvP6CPe5Kd
and Harry, my friend —41Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtof01fpTsY
more chaos than calm, but a comfort all the same.
We were a team.41Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPdrAWjG8sV
Somewhat random, but real.
Our project was rooted in Rajahmundry.41Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUO7dUIFub6
A place far from our usual walls,41Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyIajORzD61
where we were to explore farming,41Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡY1zvTJaHwL
to understand flowers, roots, and the earth itself.
It was poetic, in a way.41Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ75s1gXIeWv
After all, hadn’t this year been about blooming too?
But there she was again.41Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJzBVq1gSsb
Forevermore.41Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMYWfwcssnQ
And she had her own project, her own path.
With Ren, of course.41Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbNIeMq9FTW
And that girl I met during the festival.41Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡh8H5xzsQ7z
A few others I didn’t know, but it didn’t matter.
They were a team.41Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSTaa7krYxX
Separate.41Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡD03wG7LKHZ
Like two parallel poems written in the same language,41Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcc1oF9k3Hy
but never on the same page.
We left the city on the same day,41Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBW7rytcL2N
as if chasing the same sunrise from two different windows.
She took the bus.41Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDDYvhPSxVU
I rode a bike.
Same roads, different rhythms.41Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlLHxgLUW1f
That was how it had always been, wasn’t it?
May ended in sweat and soil,41Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyqTCHaMN13
laughter echoing in quiet villages,41Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiYP4fNdFSR
us pretending to be farmers, observers, volunteers.41Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2Q1mScBLL4
Somewhere in between the heat and haze,41Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBYvVqdGU3v
we completed what was asked of us.
But more than the project,41Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡISVQFG8bFO
it was the people.41Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡL4edOzB1lv
The little moments.41Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUSwu6mvI9y
The jokes, the long walks back from fields.41Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpDZ6ztXapM
Not everything has to be profound.41Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFV55eNPaLW
Sometimes, simplicity leaves the deepest roots.
And then,41Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡh5ZjjG6eO0
came the results.
By late July,41Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUqbKpy5Wnm
we were handed the truth of our first year.
CGPA: 8.88
Better than I expected.41Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAUaBuf1Tk4
Worse than I pretended I didn’t care.41Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHzPgZzOgsJ
It was a number, yes.41Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxQsklo01Hu
But also a weight lifted.41Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡe0Mzy4BSxY
A reminder that despite everything —41Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEyzTot6OqH
I survived, I coded, I lived.41Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRuCLmLjHn2
And maybe even bloomed a little.
The second year wasn’t knocking.41Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGTdXH7Y4Kc
It was already breaking in.
A whole new chapter —41Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡK4qwJROUdq
new faces, maybe some old ones too.41Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡL3LOMWYZkn
But more than anything,41Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWmkrP4DLxn
new choices.
And I...41Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpySdVJHE7j
was still carrying the echoes of a name I carved softly into my soul.41Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjIT6FM5VkB
