At the end of the semester,71Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUGXL5ihal7
when the books were closed,71Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsmepmtehAw
and the codes had settled into the silence of completion,71Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsMUlDoFiYT
we were handed something new —71Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvIjoKx0nq9
a task beyond classrooms and labs.
They called it the CSP —71Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwlvxdAZezq
Community Service Project.
It was meant to connect us with the world outside —71Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlkkyM62GfV
to give back, maybe.71Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlwAsyGGpOb
But for me, it felt more like a pause,71Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMpq0KMs7Fn
a breath before the next rush.
I didn’t choose my team.71Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9exvGtKtlo
Or maybe, the team chose me.
It was me,71Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCLGEl1mtnq
Merry and Bettie — two girls from my class71Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ09xS5gyN6H
who shared more smiles than words with me,71Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡksZXb0waoh
and Harry, my friend —71Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOHmGxgmOLb
more chaos than calm, but a comfort all the same.
We were a team.71Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3eWtPILDsm
Somewhat random, but real.
Our project was rooted in Rajahmundry.71Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzVSUR8mXbM
A place far from our usual walls,71Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCVHjQ7YSKI
where we were to explore farming,71Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBWQmQPoAf8
to understand flowers, roots, and the earth itself.
It was poetic, in a way.71Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8EZFrTT4WI
After all, hadn’t this year been about blooming too?
But there she was again.71Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLFRXbygSow
Forevermore.71Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSHKgxouGt5
And she had her own project, her own path.
With Ren, of course.71Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUUF9ROR41q
And that girl I met during the festival.71Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡo9AzeTDE67
A few others I didn’t know, but it didn’t matter.
They were a team.71Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDjjPqei5BC
Separate.71Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyvQv6U5Mcq
Like two parallel poems written in the same language,71Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡM4DiH2sjwj
but never on the same page.
We left the city on the same day,71Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡY33Z0zEQRd
as if chasing the same sunrise from two different windows.
She took the bus.71Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmu0CqIvmrc
I rode a bike.
Same roads, different rhythms.71Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPo9JTZ8vz4
That was how it had always been, wasn’t it?
May ended in sweat and soil,71Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTN86xBuxDK
laughter echoing in quiet villages,71Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCos6V5zhAd
us pretending to be farmers, observers, volunteers.71Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7NQiThRrsT
Somewhere in between the heat and haze,71Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdYzZCIuHM5
we completed what was asked of us.
But more than the project,71Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡr83B3nxR8l
it was the people.71Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJbh6DHD1zq
The little moments.71Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ07t0xcD5pE
The jokes, the long walks back from fields.71Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3gryy0gHNF
Not everything has to be profound.71Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZi3sFSJbSi
Sometimes, simplicity leaves the deepest roots.
And then,71Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVXltkyElEg
came the results.
By late July,71Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSh3KbhSR3g
we were handed the truth of our first year.
CGPA: 8.88
Better than I expected.71Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvhqGqjy39U
Worse than I pretended I didn’t care.71Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFOHO5a8EJO
It was a number, yes.71Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKSnxY0pSbN
But also a weight lifted.71Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfIkX8YymU1
A reminder that despite everything —71Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEtpu5aWUI1
I survived, I coded, I lived.71Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcHUGOgX42Z
And maybe even bloomed a little.
The second year wasn’t knocking.71Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwhwC15q1Hj
It was already breaking in.
A whole new chapter —71Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1hzI3uhnub
new faces, maybe some old ones too.71Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGaFvGrFMrX
But more than anything,71Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTp9tfCZi0H
new choices.
And I...71Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6whzd5cgHc
was still carrying the echoes of a name I carved softly into my soul.71Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKns2MFDTQz
and then Add to home screen.