This semester was…57Please respect copyright.PENANANLLfGH2Cfr
different.57Please respect copyright.PENANAHs2Q7L44y3
Special, maybe.57Please respect copyright.PENANAJXDh1IQWRM
Not because of what was taught —57Please respect copyright.PENANAIymJbMAEoM
but because of how we lived it.
They filtered out a handful of us —57Please respect copyright.PENANAQ7NNNox61C
called us the Bamboo Coders.57Please respect copyright.PENANAItQ2v6wrVH
A name that felt funny at first,57Please respect copyright.PENANAaSxsG3MGG3
but later —57Please respect copyright.PENANAd5lykeyfPH
it became a badge of sorts.57Please respect copyright.PENANA6V5GwVxnDt
A sign that we were the ones chosen,57Please respect copyright.PENANAfEkvP9AYK6
to be sharpened.
We were given three days in the week,57Please respect copyright.PENANAEStXDQnf1i
and half of the rest —57Please respect copyright.PENANA9xlxZa8mmu
to lose ourselves in Java, Python,57Please respect copyright.PENANAyiUP1Tn6FJ
and Advanced Data Structures57Please respect copyright.PENANAq75cT7kY9B
in the walls of Technical Hub.
And she was there too.57Please respect copyright.PENANA1Q3AbZ5YWd
Forevermore.
So were Ramu, Richard, Ren, Krish,57Please respect copyright.PENANAv4ZGZ0ZM48
Andrew, Simon, Harry —57Please respect copyright.PENANAwNC3Whqpc8
a mix of voices, minds, and laughter.
It became our world.57Please respect copyright.PENANAyO5L9AxQCX
A bubble made of keyboard clicks,57Please respect copyright.PENANAGGYtj52xmn
mugged-up syntax, half-finished jokes,57Please respect copyright.PENANAai8gAlm54S
and dreams stitched in code.
In the middle of all the laughter,57Please respect copyright.PENANAgwriis8K36
battles of logic,57Please respect copyright.PENANAe9miW20bVr
and the warmth of friendship —57Please respect copyright.PENANAD2tJrCmUWF
there stood someone we all admired57Please respect copyright.PENANAnHb1i9UEMA
but hardly spoke about.
Ashok sir.
He wasn’t just a teacher.57Please respect copyright.PENANAOLzGdNdXF8
He was a man with a gaze full of distant fires,57Please respect copyright.PENANAAo4AHYDaOb
a quiet dreamer who hid oceans behind his silence.57Please respect copyright.PENANADCz2EGj6nu
57Please respect copyright.PENANAI9wPOrbJaM
He taught us Advanced Data Structure. While Pavan Sir, taught us the remaining.57Please respect copyright.PENANAhtph43JNDB
Java and Python.
He was, to me,57Please respect copyright.PENANAo0HlWFMIMv
a dream flower —57Please respect copyright.PENANA0aCEDhsdQG
blooming with brilliance,57Please respect copyright.PENANAttRdrP1or4
but rooted too deep in a soil that wouldn’t let him move.57Please respect copyright.PENANABoUVUjdzB3
He wanted to do something.57Please respect copyright.PENANADTyJ1lAgH3
You could feel it.57Please respect copyright.PENANATNKWXXGQxv
But something always held him back.
Maybe responsibilities.57Please respect copyright.PENANAnHGLamXhtx
Maybe fear.57Please respect copyright.PENANAH8y9L6v0Dd
Maybe time had just moved too fast57Please respect copyright.PENANAlKteVkWqHH
before he could catch it.57Please respect copyright.PENANAzhorTxOcj3
57Please respect copyright.PENANAJnngSVunDv
He always say:
“Hard work doesn’t guarantee success…57Please respect copyright.PENANAjhpAStt4jY
but it always leaves behind a version of you57Please respect copyright.PENANAQRHclCawoq
that deserved it.”
Because Ashok sir may have not reached where he once dreamed of…57Please respect copyright.PENANAVsH6GVc77P
but he will make sure we do.
With Ravikanth and other seniors guiding us,57Please respect copyright.PENANACZ13VJ5VOr
it became my playground.57Please respect copyright.PENANAHdF7gJ4JnE
There, I was free.57Please respect copyright.PENANAnFCYlYgYPP
Playing, laughing, coding, dancing —57Please respect copyright.PENANA7LR7PUn2wo
No one could stop me.57Please respect copyright.PENANA2zsP6ZfWg6
Especially not when I had Richard beside me.57Please respect copyright.PENANACsKa3Xhf9O
We were fire and wind —57Please respect copyright.PENANA714FhHiLoC
Unstoppable.
But with Forevermore —57Please respect copyright.PENANA3H1ME4muO4
ghosting and misunderstandings came like clouds after sunshine.57Please respect copyright.PENANABPNbAxa4BC
Random, uninvited…57Please respect copyright.PENANAAtUTQVHNl3
but somehow familiar.
Still, every evening,57Please respect copyright.PENANAg95ajWkQy7
me, her, and Ren57Please respect copyright.PENANAqRS7cIDHYg
would meet near her bus57Please respect copyright.PENANA74rrKUt5zj
and talk until the engines hummed and the wheels turned.
Then one day,57Please respect copyright.PENANAypiNIk1kNl
she asked me something.
Something simple —57Please respect copyright.PENANAi7nCTSXl2m
about Japanese placements.
And I told her everything I knew.57Please respect copyright.PENANALpvCcaJqBj
And when I said I was preparing too,57Please respect copyright.PENANAP6FQAPYLRD
she smiled —57Please respect copyright.PENANAFcSefCwlkG
a kind of silent joy,57Please respect copyright.PENANAh2ac3mAUrh
and said,
"We could do this together...57Please respect copyright.PENANAVjo1T4NT7F
Same boat, right?57Please respect copyright.PENANAa26MqCOm1U
Even if I stop, you’ll keep going."
And there, in that one moment,57Please respect copyright.PENANAnBs95nsCTJ
I felt it.57Please respect copyright.PENANAOcS2AfAxOS
That I had become someone57Please respect copyright.PENANAEv8y1REClt
she could lean on.57Please respect copyright.PENANAbwvWQFcwKb
Someone she believed in.
It meant everything.
But a thought floated quietly behind that smile…
“If we weren’t in the same boat,57Please respect copyright.PENANAarX6CuDMnw
would she still think of me?”
Would she still see me,57Please respect copyright.PENANA0LeQ0DGRlw
or would I be ghosted — again, unknowingly —57Please respect copyright.PENANAXVLWzHpU8N
like she once said she does?
But I let that thought dissolve.57Please respect copyright.PENANAFXS0w9TnIE
Because this was a moment worth keeping.
We began learning together.57Please respect copyright.PENANAbkKmLFYxrZ
Late nights, whispering over calls,57Please respect copyright.PENANAuWg78WBxov
solving Java problems,57Please respect copyright.PENANAgO2bJ7yBFA
sharing notes,57Please respect copyright.PENANAQGHw03PplA
and pretending it was a “revision” for me57Please respect copyright.PENANAL0g7qXn09I
— just so she wouldn’t feel guilty.
She didn’t know57Please respect copyright.PENANAw9Y98ynNQM
how much I had pushed myself57Please respect copyright.PENANAPaNb3sCMgX
to catch up,57Please respect copyright.PENANAhOJncH0Wxy
to be useful.57Please respect copyright.PENANAidz9q2o3XQ
To be… enough.
But that was okay.57Please respect copyright.PENANA78CoF9QSNk
Because I wasn’t doing it for recognition.57Please respect copyright.PENANAc5kK2x2bs8
I was doing it for her.
Mornings were Technical Hub.57Please respect copyright.PENANAGH0qKP7Q7I
Evenings — I’d walk her to the bus.
Her bus was parked in the middle of the college ground.57Please respect copyright.PENANARBED2Gl8X8
Mine was to the right.57Please respect copyright.PENANATdHSjeD6DV
Ren’s to the left.
Like a reflection of where we all stood.57Please respect copyright.PENANAWs1Db5hV2S
Her — at the center.57Please respect copyright.PENANAjOYHCiYHRv
Me — watching from a distance.57Please respect copyright.PENANAGAuE6FWWDh
Ren — never too far.
And in between all this,57Please respect copyright.PENANAonXuxLnkSe
her birthday came.
I wanted to give her something…57Please respect copyright.PENANABFtsW0kh2e
something that wouldn’t fade,57Please respect copyright.PENANAWNCTGehVrx
even if I did.57Please respect copyright.PENANATP9aEfWi8o
A piece of me she could keep,57Please respect copyright.PENANAPYTN8jicxi
even if I someday became57Please respect copyright.PENANAqrYUkGdLgA
just another name in her memories.
I thought of what she loved most —57Please respect copyright.PENANAsDVwa22pTs
Harry Potter.
Seven books.57Please respect copyright.PENANAcBamnIHYX0
Seven stories that shaped her.
One of many that she holds the closest.
I wanted to give her all of them.57Please respect copyright.PENANANaMe5zlTt9
Not at once — It would be a overkill,57Please respect copyright.PENANA4gnBefuuVo
but over time.57Please respect copyright.PENANAj5U5HULZxO
57Please respect copyright.PENANAuYAryulYvD
Over three years.57Please respect copyright.PENANAaah6peafjS
Because that’s how long we’d get to see each other,57Please respect copyright.PENANAo02hBgab5S
in this college, in this life.
A slow gift.57Please respect copyright.PENANAaFbnEMXDHi
A promise across seasons.
Not just a present —57Please respect copyright.PENANAUgat6y23IC
but a quiet wish.
ns216.73.216.12da2That maybe even if I couldn’t stay in her story forever,57Please respect copyright.PENANAkwYHVKbnn1
I’d be a chapter worth rereading.