At the end of the semester,55Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKKfhKS8dLD
when the books were closed,55Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvwAg2pS5bq
and the codes had settled into the silence of completion,55Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrrzxegddx2
we were handed something new —55Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZDRj6xUJ1E
a task beyond classrooms and labs.
They called it the CSP —55Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcX6fUtyGTe
Community Service Project.
It was meant to connect us with the world outside —55Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbIP44oWdnr
to give back, maybe.55Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡv7CjZOFiLm
But for me, it felt more like a pause,55Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0zCUTl8u4D
a breath before the next rush.
I didn’t choose my team.55Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnKJDgpwfF3
Or maybe, the team chose me.
It was me,55Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVxgjIunRw6
Merry and Bettie — two girls from my class55Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaFl0f9S4gL
who shared more smiles than words with me,55Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhn72eAPg4S
and Harry, my friend —55Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuRmsmSuoSC
more chaos than calm, but a comfort all the same.
We were a team.55Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtxrLIE7kWJ
Somewhat random, but real.
Our project was rooted in Rajahmundry.55Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8bSZUAEQdl
A place far from our usual walls,55Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsAj0KNbfki
where we were to explore farming,55Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8clyDAI0F4
to understand flowers, roots, and the earth itself.
It was poetic, in a way.55Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfkFdrJYoEh
After all, hadn’t this year been about blooming too?
But there she was again.55Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTjpJDwB8pw
Forevermore.55Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7Mbc1Oetqx
And she had her own project, her own path.
With Ren, of course.55Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2UNvQokKc3
And that girl I met during the festival.55Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoTCraAMJNk
A few others I didn’t know, but it didn’t matter.
They were a team.55Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8wMaqlsELl
Separate.55Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5QGBVAofO6
Like two parallel poems written in the same language,55Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1iLMhWqL8y
but never on the same page.
We left the city on the same day,55Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4HXtKMq5Xg
as if chasing the same sunrise from two different windows.
She took the bus.55Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJf3l5PVJsG
I rode a bike.
Same roads, different rhythms.55Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbUVx2342cK
That was how it had always been, wasn’t it?
May ended in sweat and soil,55Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1lCqoa5nSO
laughter echoing in quiet villages,55Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhs8Q6RBk91
us pretending to be farmers, observers, volunteers.55Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOvCdYpfNan
Somewhere in between the heat and haze,55Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPTSNhqKXOk
we completed what was asked of us.
But more than the project,55Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXS8FlBORDE
it was the people.55Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXEMultp84F
The little moments.55Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAeFu5zHfFt
The jokes, the long walks back from fields.55Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjbTVJU3RNr
Not everything has to be profound.55Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7XbeJkrddS
Sometimes, simplicity leaves the deepest roots.
And then,55Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6DwYHuxWrF
came the results.
By late July,55Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnzcVh8qTx9
we were handed the truth of our first year.
CGPA: 8.88
Better than I expected.55Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡftgZGK8PDQ
Worse than I pretended I didn’t care.55Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0rLbisWKXN
It was a number, yes.55Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEZPfc1p487
But also a weight lifted.55Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOvQpvNpoLi
A reminder that despite everything —55Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIGIGvHRKQ2
I survived, I coded, I lived.55Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkud4kId5OC
And maybe even bloomed a little.
The second year wasn’t knocking.55Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3Ez8v987m3
It was already breaking in.
A whole new chapter —55Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡltSWd8AuiD
new faces, maybe some old ones too.55Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgUtEaTDi88
But more than anything,55Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfd38PW3wiX
new choices.
And I...55Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡO6yjoFfkng
was still carrying the echoes of a name I carved softly into my soul.55Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmsfXXSUbs6
