At the end of the semester,386Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZWT2u2dgv8
when the books were closed,386Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡM1dDPLn60O
and the codes had settled into the silence of completion,386Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnDYYQxAlxY
we were handed something new —386Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡb2O14G09Rr
a task beyond classrooms and labs.
They called it the CSP —386Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqHJ9LWhkae
Community Service Project.
It was meant to connect us with the world outside —386Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwjbHIBylZk
to give back, maybe.386Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0c8n7dONY6
But for me, it felt more like a pause,386Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDJRTf5NvMr
a breath before the next rush.
I didn’t choose my team.386Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSwKJRRIIwl
Or maybe, the team chose me.
It was me,386Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUTvggiLGGY
Merry and Bettie — two girls from my class386Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡX7zHaoyU2R
who shared more smiles than words with me,386Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡx881GCeihH
and Harry, my friend —386Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLBqYRiKP9l
more chaos than calm, but a comfort all the same.
We were a team.386Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWGhJmaFf7z
Somewhat random, but real.
Our project was rooted in Rajahmundry.386Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0pcpu3fPJb
A place far from our usual walls,386Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6PCOqY4iyA
where we were to explore farming,386Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQllSPmC9ue
to understand flowers, roots, and the earth itself.
It was poetic, in a way.386Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡz53yiWY2MG
After all, hadn’t this year been about blooming too?
But there she was again.386Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdWZmqecXxl
Forevermore.386Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeW9YtQjICy
And she had her own project, her own path.
With Ren, of course.386Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMMgsuQYueh
And that girl I met during the festival.386Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrN1eEF9yFI
A few others I didn’t know, but it didn’t matter.
They were a team.386Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCZ3ql0i6fk
Separate.386Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡs76gFVJDKc
Like two parallel poems written in the same language,386Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6VFsUYAQQ5
but never on the same page.
We left the city on the same day,386Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4uXRLN0evc
as if chasing the same sunrise from two different windows.
She took the bus.386Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIjU2lbG6A1
I rode a bike.
Same roads, different rhythms.386Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9i858JSGvb
That was how it had always been, wasn’t it?
May ended in sweat and soil,386Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzCTDnaHj7k
laughter echoing in quiet villages,386Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWK17yE3w27
us pretending to be farmers, observers, volunteers.386Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXfiXQqHUi9
Somewhere in between the heat and haze,386Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxsRXN05kec
we completed what was asked of us.
But more than the project,386Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡahFlfNuKv8
it was the people.386Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡs0m7ueZYnp
The little moments.386Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrDXNtZc3OU
The jokes, the long walks back from fields.386Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ48To82pTJd
Not everything has to be profound.386Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡli0iKmYuoG
Sometimes, simplicity leaves the deepest roots.
And then,386Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrgRmt4Bqu2
came the results.
By late July,386Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJu6bkusQwO
we were handed the truth of our first year.
CGPA: 8.88
Better than I expected.386Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsMyNIohCPh
Worse than I pretended I didn’t care.386Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3HsTSDTEXy
It was a number, yes.386Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsJdeC1IFik
But also a weight lifted.386Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQbmEbacqZZ
A reminder that despite everything —386Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHy6Vg1blWm
I survived, I coded, I lived.386Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtVqBO7QZNj
And maybe even bloomed a little.
The second year wasn’t knocking.386Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaRl91ofm5x
It was already breaking in.
A whole new chapter —386Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡq3ucdg1tT1
new faces, maybe some old ones too.386Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhiea8WUvxk
But more than anything,386Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡW46VKszlub
new choices.
And I...386Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4vANXVl0Vk
was still carrying the echoes of a name I carved softly into my soul.386Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHxcPUr4pAX
and then Add to home screen.