At the end of the semester,443Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcr8cFUIFd9
when the books were closed,443Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMoSWo8hnCF
and the codes had settled into the silence of completion,443Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrQaGZW1Q5T
we were handed something new —443Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMmGV65bG4Z
a task beyond classrooms and labs.
They called it the CSP —443Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIUIcb8X2jS
Community Service Project.
It was meant to connect us with the world outside —443Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVKDetCNs3E
to give back, maybe.443Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHC2Q1bSnlW
But for me, it felt more like a pause,443Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtqoHedRGfp
a breath before the next rush.
I didn’t choose my team.443Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeoYkuJzHyz
Or maybe, the team chose me.
It was me,443Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKo0MnL8MlN
Merry and Bettie — two girls from my class443Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdxuBNjXc9f
who shared more smiles than words with me,443Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjDzJSeOaNP
and Harry, my friend —443Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxAAup6hxPP
more chaos than calm, but a comfort all the same.
We were a team.443Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfRF1J564cz
Somewhat random, but real.
Our project was rooted in Rajahmundry.443Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcm7Cxs1ZtW
A place far from our usual walls,443Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWZdhEa6cjm
where we were to explore farming,443Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBUCO5Pm6Ra
to understand flowers, roots, and the earth itself.
It was poetic, in a way.443Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ07S7H0182m
After all, hadn’t this year been about blooming too?
But there she was again.443Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpAqMshPMDB
Forevermore.443Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMtoYnmm1xq
And she had her own project, her own path.
With Ren, of course.443Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5Nr8XhCY9y
And that girl I met during the festival.443Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPDkGwCOZAg
A few others I didn’t know, but it didn’t matter.
They were a team.443Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0gIcbSL1AO
Separate.443Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJ2KZnNXXAU
Like two parallel poems written in the same language,443Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrvy5LscVaC
but never on the same page.
We left the city on the same day,443Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhakflIShgN
as if chasing the same sunrise from two different windows.
She took the bus.443Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsHiZRMl7PY
I rode a bike.
Same roads, different rhythms.443Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4VjuDQxYoX
That was how it had always been, wasn’t it?
May ended in sweat and soil,443Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFmxo3i3Ao8
laughter echoing in quiet villages,443Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmQiIoc7vyC
us pretending to be farmers, observers, volunteers.443Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡusqbo7byHV
Somewhere in between the heat and haze,443Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRJS7LG6cDZ
we completed what was asked of us.
But more than the project,443Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJicHZMQ8Qq
it was the people.443Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡG4dRFqFz5K
The little moments.443Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuCK3OymbKt
The jokes, the long walks back from fields.443Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡL7vh8GnFRk
Not everything has to be profound.443Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡANp9zFp50y
Sometimes, simplicity leaves the deepest roots.
And then,443Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwSceAjcOiY
came the results.
By late July,443Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmoA2VF4EOw
we were handed the truth of our first year.
CGPA: 8.88
Better than I expected.443Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSW6GKnvdZ8
Worse than I pretended I didn’t care.443Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPiecJEJFkG
It was a number, yes.443Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRy9koENcK8
But also a weight lifted.443Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡArWpgOQaNy
A reminder that despite everything —443Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdbv0WIfZeT
I survived, I coded, I lived.443Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6bFWukqjXg
And maybe even bloomed a little.
The second year wasn’t knocking.443Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJeBAH603Rg
It was already breaking in.
A whole new chapter —443Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAc201OZ28i
new faces, maybe some old ones too.443Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0PDiqiwEiQ
But more than anything,443Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxEnX7lVJQ2
new choices.
And I...443Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5lpUU2ueCg
was still carrying the echoes of a name I carved softly into my soul.443Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwPk98BCPDs
and then Add to home screen.