At the end of the semester,153Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2tnyaSLIvf
when the books were closed,153Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwTGdbgoLSf
and the codes had settled into the silence of completion,153Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMRDiFJCTM7
we were handed something new —153Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIuGJC6aRfJ
a task beyond classrooms and labs.
They called it the CSP —153Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHh4KkMp6QE
Community Service Project.
It was meant to connect us with the world outside —153Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsCyuEvEBR0
to give back, maybe.153Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ83N8qPfcLb
But for me, it felt more like a pause,153Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWM31gV1UPq
a breath before the next rush.
I didn’t choose my team.153Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtvhbrjso5W
Or maybe, the team chose me.
It was me,153Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIJ4vChP435
Merry and Bettie — two girls from my class153Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkJJ8PHwS3V
who shared more smiles than words with me,153Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1xnLjIjIPi
and Harry, my friend —153Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcv3oIhDXPH
more chaos than calm, but a comfort all the same.
We were a team.153Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡN0QMnne9wd
Somewhat random, but real.
Our project was rooted in Rajahmundry.153Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiDRs8rbKkP
A place far from our usual walls,153Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUXn0v5accZ
where we were to explore farming,153Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUuz2NrIHIm
to understand flowers, roots, and the earth itself.
It was poetic, in a way.153Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZC0knVk5L3
After all, hadn’t this year been about blooming too?
But there she was again.153Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHOwV1J3QEm
Forevermore.153Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡU2vqEaSM3R
And she had her own project, her own path.
With Ren, of course.153Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNKflU4CVGN
And that girl I met during the festival.153Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyEEJylDCQ0
A few others I didn’t know, but it didn’t matter.
They were a team.153Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVeovDaYY3M
Separate.153Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5EVqBxJEGW
Like two parallel poems written in the same language,153Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSYhrcoL9Yd
but never on the same page.
We left the city on the same day,153Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBdWH9rJBcp
as if chasing the same sunrise from two different windows.
She took the bus.153Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡW10Xut4tzt
I rode a bike.
Same roads, different rhythms.153Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ92npeqQWpR
That was how it had always been, wasn’t it?
May ended in sweat and soil,153Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡloXtrGb82x
laughter echoing in quiet villages,153Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgU4FalrPzM
us pretending to be farmers, observers, volunteers.153Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2aI2VejORv
Somewhere in between the heat and haze,153Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvMPtLrKo5r
we completed what was asked of us.
But more than the project,153Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡldSVQ13NAI
it was the people.153Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuGUt0pPxfh
The little moments.153Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMmdVOfJEkn
The jokes, the long walks back from fields.153Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjCewMgqOPe
Not everything has to be profound.153Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhnteyHLBcF
Sometimes, simplicity leaves the deepest roots.
And then,153Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQG5jOHOYHx
came the results.
By late July,153Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQxW81qg9lN
we were handed the truth of our first year.
CGPA: 8.88
Better than I expected.153Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIRrdtNNzev
Worse than I pretended I didn’t care.153Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuBzOAcrWpj
It was a number, yes.153Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGvuyJwvGTO
But also a weight lifted.153Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoqmuBSnRxZ
A reminder that despite everything —153Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7Ohkj2LBcT
I survived, I coded, I lived.153Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIOfh7jS0gu
And maybe even bloomed a little.
The second year wasn’t knocking.153Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWIy6fEDmTE
It was already breaking in.
A whole new chapter —153Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmqlnb4XxHC
new faces, maybe some old ones too.153Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsFzSjINuHi
But more than anything,153Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaD59CPti8i
new choices.
And I...153Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRgCm0Ma5CV
was still carrying the echoes of a name I carved softly into my soul.153Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNkBDFwwUCZ
and then Add to home screen.