This semester was…124Please respect copyright.PENANAaRU5A1n5Pe
different.124Please respect copyright.PENANA4hbVETI4V8
Special, maybe.124Please respect copyright.PENANARJgoVYTEzW
Not because of what was taught —124Please respect copyright.PENANAkYbjYU5ARv
but because of how we lived it.
They filtered out a handful of us —124Please respect copyright.PENANAp48VNkOSKY
called us the Bamboo Coders.124Please respect copyright.PENANAAOUI76hZ8n
A name that felt funny at first,124Please respect copyright.PENANADjuqukbz6f
but later —124Please respect copyright.PENANAy5oLeYmN1L
it became a badge of sorts.124Please respect copyright.PENANAycL8f9q2NT
A sign that we were the ones chosen,124Please respect copyright.PENANAXPFAfH5l8Q
to be sharpened.
We were given three days in the week,124Please respect copyright.PENANAVg9TncP0Ec
and half of the rest —124Please respect copyright.PENANAu2CNtqhyTt
to lose ourselves in Java, Python,124Please respect copyright.PENANAVYtmr56N02
and Advanced Data Structures124Please respect copyright.PENANAPKm1MPLmyd
in the walls of Technical Hub.
And she was there too.124Please respect copyright.PENANAl13fZ47QXe
Forevermore.
So were Ramu, Richard, Ren, Krish,124Please respect copyright.PENANAk9BMLvslqn
Andrew, Simon, Harry —124Please respect copyright.PENANAmrFdNPWCQk
a mix of voices, minds, and laughter.
It became our world.124Please respect copyright.PENANAYcaQXRIeXL
A bubble made of keyboard clicks,124Please respect copyright.PENANATcj8nwcGWI
mugged-up syntax, half-finished jokes,124Please respect copyright.PENANAtXzHBuGdDu
and dreams stitched in code.
In the middle of all the laughter,124Please respect copyright.PENANAlSYAoXjRXl
battles of logic,124Please respect copyright.PENANAvUHCMyNwUN
and the warmth of friendship —124Please respect copyright.PENANAemttoMzdBK
there stood someone we all admired124Please respect copyright.PENANAZb55VFAjms
but hardly spoke about.
Ashok sir.
He wasn’t just a teacher.124Please respect copyright.PENANAVjD905fSYf
He was a man with a gaze full of distant fires,124Please respect copyright.PENANAcPEgXrSIuy
a quiet dreamer who hid oceans behind his silence.124Please respect copyright.PENANAFgIXB46z6g
124Please respect copyright.PENANAsocmDDwOso
He taught us Advanced Data Structure. While Pavan Sir, taught us the remaining.124Please respect copyright.PENANApHZyGq6KEi
Java and Python.
He was, to me,124Please respect copyright.PENANAz635Q3AAlY
a dream flower —124Please respect copyright.PENANASBfsb50wvl
blooming with brilliance,124Please respect copyright.PENANAwNMPd4gwm8
but rooted too deep in a soil that wouldn’t let him move.124Please respect copyright.PENANANpxOyYxfWF
He wanted to do something.124Please respect copyright.PENANAVroo9exjWc
You could feel it.124Please respect copyright.PENANAErw9tec5zn
But something always held him back.
Maybe responsibilities.124Please respect copyright.PENANAc5O5VR1bFC
Maybe fear.124Please respect copyright.PENANA6wFLNOm92w
Maybe time had just moved too fast124Please respect copyright.PENANARGtbS4XfqE
before he could catch it.124Please respect copyright.PENANAgzv5J5wQqe
124Please respect copyright.PENANAZyC4IEZIyV
He always say:
“Hard work doesn’t guarantee success…124Please respect copyright.PENANA2AdzY2UwOj
but it always leaves behind a version of you124Please respect copyright.PENANAt0m99UJF83
that deserved it.”
Because Ashok sir may have not reached where he once dreamed of…124Please respect copyright.PENANAT9QNQodkJf
but he will make sure we do.
With Ravikanth and other seniors guiding us,124Please respect copyright.PENANANwxVFrwpWq
it became my playground.124Please respect copyright.PENANAJkCc1XJPaT
There, I was free.124Please respect copyright.PENANARBhYA9ycgO
Playing, laughing, coding, dancing —124Please respect copyright.PENANASqGBdr8vxG
No one could stop me.124Please respect copyright.PENANAPGhOmjYbFh
Especially not when I had Richard beside me.124Please respect copyright.PENANA0flCkjEIiH
We were fire and wind —124Please respect copyright.PENANA4MmMzF8fgg
Unstoppable.
But with Forevermore —124Please respect copyright.PENANAkkM4zW1s6o
ghosting and misunderstandings came like clouds after sunshine.124Please respect copyright.PENANACIY84Td5DK
Random, uninvited…124Please respect copyright.PENANAMcLdSzgxxG
but somehow familiar.
Still, every evening,124Please respect copyright.PENANAneukocf0ai
me, her, and Ren124Please respect copyright.PENANAdbiY1yjKZk
would meet near her bus124Please respect copyright.PENANA7k9TK0ABZr
and talk until the engines hummed and the wheels turned.
Then one day,124Please respect copyright.PENANAEee4u8qjK1
she asked me something.
Something simple —124Please respect copyright.PENANAHAmgozGc3U
about Japanese placements.
And I told her everything I knew.124Please respect copyright.PENANAjXbNVDOGCE
And when I said I was preparing too,124Please respect copyright.PENANAPKhHXFuFYx
she smiled —124Please respect copyright.PENANAC7Z3g6ugAK
a kind of silent joy,124Please respect copyright.PENANAtW0MMyDRTR
and said,
"We could do this together...124Please respect copyright.PENANAJILINF4rqv
Same boat, right?124Please respect copyright.PENANA3ZM0MPUXhL
Even if I stop, you’ll keep going."
And there, in that one moment,124Please respect copyright.PENANAedafqgtmCp
I felt it.124Please respect copyright.PENANA6TdOoUWXTw
That I had become someone124Please respect copyright.PENANAMICzoLAzJT
she could lean on.124Please respect copyright.PENANAqcR77rCWiv
Someone she believed in.
It meant everything.
But a thought floated quietly behind that smile…
“If we weren’t in the same boat,124Please respect copyright.PENANA2cH7PlpxQw
would she still think of me?”
Would she still see me,124Please respect copyright.PENANAqt6ZenimOI
or would I be ghosted — again, unknowingly —124Please respect copyright.PENANA0p2qaQVpZk
like she once said she does?
But I let that thought dissolve.124Please respect copyright.PENANA1Xhapamoil
Because this was a moment worth keeping.
We began learning together.124Please respect copyright.PENANANmwpZI5uZU
Late nights, whispering over calls,124Please respect copyright.PENANAEdm8jgcDGY
solving Java problems,124Please respect copyright.PENANAkFLwU1ZYMU
sharing notes,124Please respect copyright.PENANArwDguMhfAs
and pretending it was a “revision” for me124Please respect copyright.PENANALuWHM99ZUY
— just so she wouldn’t feel guilty.
She didn’t know124Please respect copyright.PENANAaNiluQUjSm
how much I had pushed myself124Please respect copyright.PENANAcTxb0hxmvR
to catch up,124Please respect copyright.PENANAzvq1TLWiTS
to be useful.124Please respect copyright.PENANAntk9UhChsW
To be… enough.
But that was okay.124Please respect copyright.PENANAyOxxkrt8cN
Because I wasn’t doing it for recognition.124Please respect copyright.PENANAOz3VoGKoDt
I was doing it for her.
Mornings were Technical Hub.124Please respect copyright.PENANAh0EsyNhg9D
Evenings — I’d walk her to the bus.
Her bus was parked in the middle of the college ground.124Please respect copyright.PENANAe8P5jnUIBL
Mine was to the right.124Please respect copyright.PENANAdxIUUNkwJi
Ren’s to the left.
Like a reflection of where we all stood.124Please respect copyright.PENANAJJSMlRZ7hc
Her — at the center.124Please respect copyright.PENANAHMvMdz9kIT
Me — watching from a distance.124Please respect copyright.PENANA5bSTnUBOpt
Ren — never too far.
And in between all this,124Please respect copyright.PENANA7myaRlzSAX
her birthday came.
I wanted to give her something…124Please respect copyright.PENANAtTB2SE5xDf
something that wouldn’t fade,124Please respect copyright.PENANAMJNCHjy2lH
even if I did.124Please respect copyright.PENANAnUKpEOLu6w
A piece of me she could keep,124Please respect copyright.PENANAXKVE6sRYQV
even if I someday became124Please respect copyright.PENANA16VwgjCsnl
just another name in her memories.
I thought of what she loved most —124Please respect copyright.PENANAktpA0jes38
Harry Potter.
Seven books.124Please respect copyright.PENANA5z5AGMxBNW
Seven stories that shaped her.
One of many that she holds the closest.
I wanted to give her all of them.124Please respect copyright.PENANAZRE8R3l0JR
Not at once — It would be a overkill,124Please respect copyright.PENANAPNvk49zc51
but over time.124Please respect copyright.PENANAt2Nob50NgO
124Please respect copyright.PENANA0Tm6JKrxiB
Over three years.124Please respect copyright.PENANAZPX7wT82MF
Because that’s how long we’d get to see each other,124Please respect copyright.PENANAC47ylKbBsv
in this college, in this life.
A slow gift.124Please respect copyright.PENANAHgSQPRYpop
A promise across seasons.
Not just a present —124Please respect copyright.PENANA8AjXXdsUvZ
but a quiet wish.
ns216.73.216.235da2That maybe even if I couldn’t stay in her story forever,124Please respect copyright.PENANAMUNS0O7ece
I’d be a chapter worth rereading.