This semester was…66Please respect copyright.PENANAMx46BJd0FB
different.66Please respect copyright.PENANA1TcL1k7KfP
Special, maybe.66Please respect copyright.PENANAFpt4pvNyvw
Not because of what was taught —66Please respect copyright.PENANArbHoHyBcjv
but because of how we lived it.
They filtered out a handful of us —66Please respect copyright.PENANAYVHYugJbIZ
called us the Bamboo Coders.66Please respect copyright.PENANAHirUY1bgeL
A name that felt funny at first,66Please respect copyright.PENANAnlIE5seDAN
but later —66Please respect copyright.PENANAqrTEYbFqye
it became a badge of sorts.66Please respect copyright.PENANAVXfkAp9ylc
A sign that we were the ones chosen,66Please respect copyright.PENANAIOiC9Rt9Fr
to be sharpened.
We were given three days in the week,66Please respect copyright.PENANAznSVH7S8GV
and half of the rest —66Please respect copyright.PENANAyiBihPB7Gq
to lose ourselves in Java, Python,66Please respect copyright.PENANAI3MXzFoi1d
and Advanced Data Structures66Please respect copyright.PENANArDOqGqfkJn
in the walls of Technical Hub.
And she was there too.66Please respect copyright.PENANA9jPHqwWr6H
Forevermore.
So were Ramu, Richard, Ren, Krish,66Please respect copyright.PENANAUMBmoLBQiz
Andrew, Simon, Harry —66Please respect copyright.PENANAWoxlN7T1xs
a mix of voices, minds, and laughter.
It became our world.66Please respect copyright.PENANA9RSs9gHavj
A bubble made of keyboard clicks,66Please respect copyright.PENANA0iAD6iUlzG
mugged-up syntax, half-finished jokes,66Please respect copyright.PENANA66aae2xxz7
and dreams stitched in code.
In the middle of all the laughter,66Please respect copyright.PENANAE34tRXcNrH
battles of logic,66Please respect copyright.PENANAd1NCiCH7cB
and the warmth of friendship —66Please respect copyright.PENANArwd7kHO045
there stood someone we all admired66Please respect copyright.PENANAycFb9aTk3o
but hardly spoke about.
Ashok sir.
He wasn’t just a teacher.66Please respect copyright.PENANAHJBVpexag0
He was a man with a gaze full of distant fires,66Please respect copyright.PENANAuc6c1U7I67
a quiet dreamer who hid oceans behind his silence.66Please respect copyright.PENANATMBgYgq8XU
66Please respect copyright.PENANAGZHktlAATY
He taught us Advanced Data Structure. While Pavan Sir, taught us the remaining.66Please respect copyright.PENANAjWrg58wKHP
Java and Python.
He was, to me,66Please respect copyright.PENANAJcbIwFfUN7
a dream flower —66Please respect copyright.PENANAjG3kKQ2VzT
blooming with brilliance,66Please respect copyright.PENANAyC9bkKnYvM
but rooted too deep in a soil that wouldn’t let him move.66Please respect copyright.PENANAqQECWvXYDx
He wanted to do something.66Please respect copyright.PENANADxsvPARviY
You could feel it.66Please respect copyright.PENANAqCpVH4iN9D
But something always held him back.
Maybe responsibilities.66Please respect copyright.PENANAppki4JCbNg
Maybe fear.66Please respect copyright.PENANAXtaj00frqF
Maybe time had just moved too fast66Please respect copyright.PENANABvawsFEhaY
before he could catch it.66Please respect copyright.PENANAfgULyw6e4l
66Please respect copyright.PENANAXNQ30Bdq3X
He always say:
“Hard work doesn’t guarantee success…66Please respect copyright.PENANA7MYfIjJsbk
but it always leaves behind a version of you66Please respect copyright.PENANA3z8rT2xv73
that deserved it.”
Because Ashok sir may have not reached where he once dreamed of…66Please respect copyright.PENANA3ac3qh1fo4
but he will make sure we do.
With Ravikanth and other seniors guiding us,66Please respect copyright.PENANAc8ANi9KtIv
it became my playground.66Please respect copyright.PENANA172J3uc7eU
There, I was free.66Please respect copyright.PENANA3542GKSTl2
Playing, laughing, coding, dancing —66Please respect copyright.PENANAE4ahPpoAyq
No one could stop me.66Please respect copyright.PENANAqNHzgro9yu
Especially not when I had Richard beside me.66Please respect copyright.PENANAiKLQFNuGzW
We were fire and wind —66Please respect copyright.PENANArUuLSWjNeC
Unstoppable.
But with Forevermore —66Please respect copyright.PENANAQ8ChfDlPf6
ghosting and misunderstandings came like clouds after sunshine.66Please respect copyright.PENANAokbyb09QHM
Random, uninvited…66Please respect copyright.PENANAnaXMHctnVc
but somehow familiar.
Still, every evening,66Please respect copyright.PENANAANcF425pzJ
me, her, and Ren66Please respect copyright.PENANAsdsex4vxNC
would meet near her bus66Please respect copyright.PENANADsR6woOijq
and talk until the engines hummed and the wheels turned.
Then one day,66Please respect copyright.PENANAJDKfYoLvMD
she asked me something.
Something simple —66Please respect copyright.PENANAFrRqGFo9JK
about Japanese placements.
And I told her everything I knew.66Please respect copyright.PENANAiTtKoKl4ZN
And when I said I was preparing too,66Please respect copyright.PENANArZe5QsopOo
she smiled —66Please respect copyright.PENANAhRgtidDy7O
a kind of silent joy,66Please respect copyright.PENANAROOAQTNuNg
and said,
"We could do this together...66Please respect copyright.PENANAjd9T7aeZ3N
Same boat, right?66Please respect copyright.PENANA84Ns7wBdSA
Even if I stop, you’ll keep going."
And there, in that one moment,66Please respect copyright.PENANAuVdpnkxgnA
I felt it.66Please respect copyright.PENANAQJMYyxhIiQ
That I had become someone66Please respect copyright.PENANAUjQG6ac7Sz
she could lean on.66Please respect copyright.PENANAESelLrocfo
Someone she believed in.
It meant everything.
But a thought floated quietly behind that smile…
“If we weren’t in the same boat,66Please respect copyright.PENANAwOKOOXI9TU
would she still think of me?”
Would she still see me,66Please respect copyright.PENANAhJhsQoj5Tl
or would I be ghosted — again, unknowingly —66Please respect copyright.PENANADZv6sEH9s3
like she once said she does?
But I let that thought dissolve.66Please respect copyright.PENANAsigZH7fzlb
Because this was a moment worth keeping.
We began learning together.66Please respect copyright.PENANA2wc2F9Oqqv
Late nights, whispering over calls,66Please respect copyright.PENANAen79JpPhVZ
solving Java problems,66Please respect copyright.PENANAVXP3vmouyE
sharing notes,66Please respect copyright.PENANAUt0pK8e19e
and pretending it was a “revision” for me66Please respect copyright.PENANAPOIoCuFDmL
— just so she wouldn’t feel guilty.
She didn’t know66Please respect copyright.PENANAvBzVPO2QVw
how much I had pushed myself66Please respect copyright.PENANAY7fPM53FlZ
to catch up,66Please respect copyright.PENANAQCpEf78jkb
to be useful.66Please respect copyright.PENANAEfncRERrRA
To be… enough.
But that was okay.66Please respect copyright.PENANABtzZnCbi5R
Because I wasn’t doing it for recognition.66Please respect copyright.PENANAm7vf9XiMV2
I was doing it for her.
Mornings were Technical Hub.66Please respect copyright.PENANAlRMAhBpj6y
Evenings — I’d walk her to the bus.
Her bus was parked in the middle of the college ground.66Please respect copyright.PENANAZ30VTPOkdy
Mine was to the right.66Please respect copyright.PENANAfDzw83QW41
Ren’s to the left.
Like a reflection of where we all stood.66Please respect copyright.PENANAWBh70UelAj
Her — at the center.66Please respect copyright.PENANAQCg7SBM3WT
Me — watching from a distance.66Please respect copyright.PENANA5m2zo9dYrf
Ren — never too far.
And in between all this,66Please respect copyright.PENANANiW018WN33
her birthday came.
I wanted to give her something…66Please respect copyright.PENANAMvH4wQG4iM
something that wouldn’t fade,66Please respect copyright.PENANApEnFghtPNr
even if I did.66Please respect copyright.PENANACCWLT9F1bY
A piece of me she could keep,66Please respect copyright.PENANAvGqibzVwDS
even if I someday became66Please respect copyright.PENANALAMVAz6jiE
just another name in her memories.
I thought of what she loved most —66Please respect copyright.PENANA9aTuXQSKfK
Harry Potter.
Seven books.66Please respect copyright.PENANA3Au0Fp66KW
Seven stories that shaped her.
One of many that she holds the closest.
I wanted to give her all of them.66Please respect copyright.PENANAV8PKnJEk6f
Not at once — It would be a overkill,66Please respect copyright.PENANAMXWlg8ks9g
but over time.66Please respect copyright.PENANAVyw6DZqROK
66Please respect copyright.PENANAWD3PwVSXjM
Over three years.66Please respect copyright.PENANAR8Ez5Xn2Qm
Because that’s how long we’d get to see each other,66Please respect copyright.PENANA1fzGwqni2O
in this college, in this life.
A slow gift.66Please respect copyright.PENANA1MX29mFBbJ
A promise across seasons.
Not just a present —66Please respect copyright.PENANA8lVg3roD7a
but a quiet wish.
ns216.73.216.30da2That maybe even if I couldn’t stay in her story forever,66Please respect copyright.PENANAs2OGKRFwVv
I’d be a chapter worth rereading.