At the end of the semester,74Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZUFynWdyLK
when the books were closed,74Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡabRmKWYVvG
and the codes had settled into the silence of completion,74Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtgB2nxgKtk
we were handed something new —74Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡccOa3Y9ldp
a task beyond classrooms and labs.
They called it the CSP —74Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPSbTjTq4PT
Community Service Project.
It was meant to connect us with the world outside —74Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfSTAMVm3hL
to give back, maybe.74Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡN0QYvoXKu2
But for me, it felt more like a pause,74Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkaQ7UD5ShN
a breath before the next rush.
I didn’t choose my team.74Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpJaYnv2Dg2
Or maybe, the team chose me.
It was me,74Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUEY9SYmAzD
Merry and Bettie — two girls from my class74Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXQOyLa5mDe
who shared more smiles than words with me,74Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZHxK5IYmyd
and Harry, my friend —74Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡv7Sof013Ku
more chaos than calm, but a comfort all the same.
We were a team.74Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6dWnybiT5T
Somewhat random, but real.
Our project was rooted in Rajahmundry.74Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBJuAdg4bVR
A place far from our usual walls,74Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡt4UB8Rg7QU
where we were to explore farming,74Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJBGu7MXjeY
to understand flowers, roots, and the earth itself.
It was poetic, in a way.74Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYuUyYoTzEN
After all, hadn’t this year been about blooming too?
But there she was again.74Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTIqkmExyIq
Forevermore.74Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJAUhQfutOs
And she had her own project, her own path.
With Ren, of course.74Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCYqNdPrczb
And that girl I met during the festival.74Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ421B1qmzmf
A few others I didn’t know, but it didn’t matter.
They were a team.74Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmkniQTZuKm
Separate.74Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡF00KuaDVcJ
Like two parallel poems written in the same language,74Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCbRDdr4Y1k
but never on the same page.
We left the city on the same day,74Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxwwib1dgOa
as if chasing the same sunrise from two different windows.
She took the bus.74Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡt4PTj2YgIB
I rode a bike.
Same roads, different rhythms.74Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡP9Ft6lZMP5
That was how it had always been, wasn’t it?
May ended in sweat and soil,74Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvivxrLuQHB
laughter echoing in quiet villages,74Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXIZgOaPgDJ
us pretending to be farmers, observers, volunteers.74Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYafZ0pFW5M
Somewhere in between the heat and haze,74Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7uNG6cUxYR
we completed what was asked of us.
But more than the project,74Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡz5nIsOmFeU
it was the people.74Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTkVz7g06A9
The little moments.74Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡY8QALPnnNU
The jokes, the long walks back from fields.74Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOOkJSZGYMK
Not everything has to be profound.74Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡx8IPzpfdt8
Sometimes, simplicity leaves the deepest roots.
And then,74Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxXXLBYwcsX
came the results.
By late July,74Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9VLjH6Jm5g
we were handed the truth of our first year.
CGPA: 8.88
Better than I expected.74Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHfQK84zJLq
Worse than I pretended I didn’t care.74Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzlVA1cND3f
It was a number, yes.74Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4kbxIaI1Kh
But also a weight lifted.74Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡulCLhPI1Xz
A reminder that despite everything —74Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2QAjlZozPl
I survived, I coded, I lived.74Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡI8qvEGUTaF
And maybe even bloomed a little.
The second year wasn’t knocking.74Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIki2KJ1vSm
It was already breaking in.
A whole new chapter —74Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBbJtJUBMOF
new faces, maybe some old ones too.74Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiYJ7GX6Tr0
But more than anything,74Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZIldS0zaUu
new choices.
And I...74Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3ZXtKxynsy
was still carrying the echoes of a name I carved softly into my soul.74Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0lSHzcQfDs
and then Add to home screen.