This semester was…52Please respect copyright.PENANA983DGDZI2q
different.52Please respect copyright.PENANAJ0Kiy4hQhc
Special, maybe.52Please respect copyright.PENANAnCCoQZujWE
Not because of what was taught —52Please respect copyright.PENANAuEuvMt568m
but because of how we lived it.
They filtered out a handful of us —52Please respect copyright.PENANAD0pan4EXH9
called us the Bamboo Coders.52Please respect copyright.PENANAsZyjknq2Dx
A name that felt funny at first,52Please respect copyright.PENANAB1QL9WxNR0
but later —52Please respect copyright.PENANAa3RfCKf3ZK
it became a badge of sorts.52Please respect copyright.PENANAtBgp07PhJw
A sign that we were the ones chosen,52Please respect copyright.PENANAz2T3mhi7lw
to be sharpened.
We were given three days in the week,52Please respect copyright.PENANAfGAvvzGo3w
and half of the rest —52Please respect copyright.PENANAsHsObeBS52
to lose ourselves in Java, Python,52Please respect copyright.PENANAx6g7pdLFIb
and Advanced Data Structures52Please respect copyright.PENANAygsRek50lU
in the walls of Technical Hub.
And she was there too.52Please respect copyright.PENANAJVUwZAEutE
Forevermore.
So were Ramu, Richard, Ren, Krish,52Please respect copyright.PENANAWSmSUEvUff
Andrew, Simon, Harry —52Please respect copyright.PENANArBRAiCqihn
a mix of voices, minds, and laughter.
It became our world.52Please respect copyright.PENANAitTRPmDI7U
A bubble made of keyboard clicks,52Please respect copyright.PENANAXo5I9Lmwii
mugged-up syntax, half-finished jokes,52Please respect copyright.PENANAr8SK7ujKcB
and dreams stitched in code.
In the middle of all the laughter,52Please respect copyright.PENANAeGl7MiOUjE
battles of logic,52Please respect copyright.PENANA4pzbwRAnBB
and the warmth of friendship —52Please respect copyright.PENANAUvcS5ePZk3
there stood someone we all admired52Please respect copyright.PENANASra7nlY6tM
but hardly spoke about.
Ashok sir.
He wasn’t just a teacher.52Please respect copyright.PENANA6iRugEIxOo
He was a man with a gaze full of distant fires,52Please respect copyright.PENANAThxNuld7HN
a quiet dreamer who hid oceans behind his silence.52Please respect copyright.PENANAaQG4YIQ0Kr
52Please respect copyright.PENANAWdKg7kxkbM
He taught us Advanced Data Structure. While Pavan Sir, taught us the remaining.52Please respect copyright.PENANAwDTE9oBBxR
Java and Python.
He was, to me,52Please respect copyright.PENANA07VZQ6Z0OK
a dream flower —52Please respect copyright.PENANAlO4uJRYhvu
blooming with brilliance,52Please respect copyright.PENANAPACfnsxpAJ
but rooted too deep in a soil that wouldn’t let him move.52Please respect copyright.PENANAMdF8TRJYVT
He wanted to do something.52Please respect copyright.PENANA8P3FXkbHAC
You could feel it.52Please respect copyright.PENANAqmHcW2fKXt
But something always held him back.
Maybe responsibilities.52Please respect copyright.PENANAUEra50i1FV
Maybe fear.52Please respect copyright.PENANAcYKae1HpeO
Maybe time had just moved too fast52Please respect copyright.PENANAJdViIgcPJn
before he could catch it.52Please respect copyright.PENANAKypcjrDarw
52Please respect copyright.PENANADuXTKNCpfW
He always say:
“Hard work doesn’t guarantee success…52Please respect copyright.PENANAd6bY2gMQC8
but it always leaves behind a version of you52Please respect copyright.PENANAlOEkCfhAsI
that deserved it.”
Because Ashok sir may have not reached where he once dreamed of…52Please respect copyright.PENANAXn3lDofWqB
but he will make sure we do.
With Ravikanth and other seniors guiding us,52Please respect copyright.PENANAC8HQbZxMMB
it became my playground.52Please respect copyright.PENANA3iwEINbJ5s
There, I was free.52Please respect copyright.PENANAE65d97gOa5
Playing, laughing, coding, dancing —52Please respect copyright.PENANAByVshRQWZ0
No one could stop me.52Please respect copyright.PENANA4nVjYeaFMH
Especially not when I had Richard beside me.52Please respect copyright.PENANAXBXyahcY0p
We were fire and wind —52Please respect copyright.PENANARK6EOT0LSS
Unstoppable.
But with Forevermore —52Please respect copyright.PENANAn0HajFGgKr
ghosting and misunderstandings came like clouds after sunshine.52Please respect copyright.PENANALhAz2ajuWd
Random, uninvited…52Please respect copyright.PENANA0omg6rNA0j
but somehow familiar.
Still, every evening,52Please respect copyright.PENANAZQSzgiLdCj
me, her, and Ren52Please respect copyright.PENANAqLR23Rrgiz
would meet near her bus52Please respect copyright.PENANAwP9YqNFx0Q
and talk until the engines hummed and the wheels turned.
Then one day,52Please respect copyright.PENANAu90dC9zrR6
she asked me something.
Something simple —52Please respect copyright.PENANABLcZQinRiP
about Japanese placements.
And I told her everything I knew.52Please respect copyright.PENANASnG2qG2lmh
And when I said I was preparing too,52Please respect copyright.PENANAcoEjRc6usu
she smiled —52Please respect copyright.PENANA9yLQ9iEpC9
a kind of silent joy,52Please respect copyright.PENANAKQEpZ72thc
and said,
"We could do this together...52Please respect copyright.PENANA8bJTtHeWs8
Same boat, right?52Please respect copyright.PENANAMDpMCB2I1i
Even if I stop, you’ll keep going."
And there, in that one moment,52Please respect copyright.PENANApfOUuMAnK3
I felt it.52Please respect copyright.PENANAYz3hwgyS2Z
That I had become someone52Please respect copyright.PENANA6UjGigJfUv
she could lean on.52Please respect copyright.PENANAfR39EPeTPB
Someone she believed in.
It meant everything.
But a thought floated quietly behind that smile…
“If we weren’t in the same boat,52Please respect copyright.PENANAdGfv0yLzWe
would she still think of me?”
Would she still see me,52Please respect copyright.PENANAI7IHfwphGq
or would I be ghosted — again, unknowingly —52Please respect copyright.PENANAw8PIVxIgjL
like she once said she does?
But I let that thought dissolve.52Please respect copyright.PENANAMWfL6q7v5d
Because this was a moment worth keeping.
We began learning together.52Please respect copyright.PENANASQGDgt9utY
Late nights, whispering over calls,52Please respect copyright.PENANA0LuGAL8dpF
solving Java problems,52Please respect copyright.PENANAhbB3bM2M97
sharing notes,52Please respect copyright.PENANAJWzI3kXlvv
and pretending it was a “revision” for me52Please respect copyright.PENANAfBtzR7VG9e
— just so she wouldn’t feel guilty.
She didn’t know52Please respect copyright.PENANAtbWnAwhWfC
how much I had pushed myself52Please respect copyright.PENANAKsoYCxpJDl
to catch up,52Please respect copyright.PENANAqq6Pua7TP2
to be useful.52Please respect copyright.PENANAgSqfliGQ6Z
To be… enough.
But that was okay.52Please respect copyright.PENANACznoMxeoGy
Because I wasn’t doing it for recognition.52Please respect copyright.PENANAq4HV4qRB3p
I was doing it for her.
Mornings were Technical Hub.52Please respect copyright.PENANAWAaU1qVwJ5
Evenings — I’d walk her to the bus.
Her bus was parked in the middle of the college ground.52Please respect copyright.PENANAjS5kTUyvIt
Mine was to the right.52Please respect copyright.PENANACIRxzOZEhd
Ren’s to the left.
Like a reflection of where we all stood.52Please respect copyright.PENANAgqGyT8e94g
Her — at the center.52Please respect copyright.PENANAplfEk3FZJJ
Me — watching from a distance.52Please respect copyright.PENANATz7DEpBAcI
Ren — never too far.
And in between all this,52Please respect copyright.PENANA4GxCKIBzfZ
her birthday came.
I wanted to give her something…52Please respect copyright.PENANA3aSmytMnfv
something that wouldn’t fade,52Please respect copyright.PENANAV4YYwLyJIa
even if I did.52Please respect copyright.PENANAphMeiVrpRs
A piece of me she could keep,52Please respect copyright.PENANAMT0Hj67f3z
even if I someday became52Please respect copyright.PENANAjtZvyaCS4z
just another name in her memories.
I thought of what she loved most —52Please respect copyright.PENANApgkwHVk7Jz
Harry Potter.
Seven books.52Please respect copyright.PENANAHQuMza21vi
Seven stories that shaped her.
One of many that she holds the closest.
I wanted to give her all of them.52Please respect copyright.PENANAVzCQLPlqUJ
Not at once — It would be a overkill,52Please respect copyright.PENANAyRhzab5fhp
but over time.52Please respect copyright.PENANAXNcZoU66a3
52Please respect copyright.PENANAJPpT0Q6TZ6
Over three years.52Please respect copyright.PENANAg32WuiF6PD
Because that’s how long we’d get to see each other,52Please respect copyright.PENANAmIlklObOeq
in this college, in this life.
A slow gift.52Please respect copyright.PENANA2vXo4XrEEr
A promise across seasons.
Not just a present —52Please respect copyright.PENANAzj5ysibfAb
but a quiet wish.
ns216.73.216.187da2That maybe even if I couldn’t stay in her story forever,52Please respect copyright.PENANASXDyBrbcvT
I’d be a chapter worth rereading.