This semester was…130Please respect copyright.PENANAOmE1STiI5M
different.130Please respect copyright.PENANAwztFKqDfEC
Special, maybe.130Please respect copyright.PENANAuqR4XLEup0
Not because of what was taught —130Please respect copyright.PENANAmUm6tZrsjd
but because of how we lived it.
They filtered out a handful of us —130Please respect copyright.PENANAYCOlLd8ktb
called us the Bamboo Coders.130Please respect copyright.PENANAWROFz7YZXf
A name that felt funny at first,130Please respect copyright.PENANAsd9tI7hnsb
but later —130Please respect copyright.PENANAh1fsmkNjAl
it became a badge of sorts.130Please respect copyright.PENANAYWPYcJG8lk
A sign that we were the ones chosen,130Please respect copyright.PENANAqsrdEFSca5
to be sharpened.
We were given three days in the week,130Please respect copyright.PENANAJeMtC01z99
and half of the rest —130Please respect copyright.PENANANaCjzaWp5W
to lose ourselves in Java, Python,130Please respect copyright.PENANAiaZFrvHNzE
and Advanced Data Structures130Please respect copyright.PENANAwUGJmpDOwy
in the walls of Technical Hub.
And she was there too.130Please respect copyright.PENANA2uDyvtJKuj
Forevermore.
So were Ramu, Richard, Ren, Krish,130Please respect copyright.PENANAoWXX4TviFN
Andrew, Simon, Harry —130Please respect copyright.PENANAdQ9naO0hFy
a mix of voices, minds, and laughter.
It became our world.130Please respect copyright.PENANAZzAhMzVEdg
A bubble made of keyboard clicks,130Please respect copyright.PENANATuV4SM3CzZ
mugged-up syntax, half-finished jokes,130Please respect copyright.PENANAZ1UAf10M5L
and dreams stitched in code.
In the middle of all the laughter,130Please respect copyright.PENANAqlBS3s2e5T
battles of logic,130Please respect copyright.PENANAIrNMWNYqxw
and the warmth of friendship —130Please respect copyright.PENANAjjpiYZHY1Y
there stood someone we all admired130Please respect copyright.PENANA1b83E9vUw0
but hardly spoke about.
Ashok sir.
He wasn’t just a teacher.130Please respect copyright.PENANAUzRZoj2jvw
He was a man with a gaze full of distant fires,130Please respect copyright.PENANArzcMVQFiWC
a quiet dreamer who hid oceans behind his silence.130Please respect copyright.PENANAYtFlsO2Rln
130Please respect copyright.PENANAEYF3NHOS8k
He taught us Advanced Data Structure. While Pavan Sir, taught us the remaining.130Please respect copyright.PENANA0i81VkMypv
Java and Python.
He was, to me,130Please respect copyright.PENANAizFo4doPYI
a dream flower —130Please respect copyright.PENANANcyrzZvHIo
blooming with brilliance,130Please respect copyright.PENANAOVwsF3CJNK
but rooted too deep in a soil that wouldn’t let him move.130Please respect copyright.PENANAvXfKTFhykC
He wanted to do something.130Please respect copyright.PENANAswfA58SVde
You could feel it.130Please respect copyright.PENANAnFfDHWocOR
But something always held him back.
Maybe responsibilities.130Please respect copyright.PENANA4z6Tb0Pj74
Maybe fear.130Please respect copyright.PENANAmN1V4G95CC
Maybe time had just moved too fast130Please respect copyright.PENANAXrzMDFdcaB
before he could catch it.130Please respect copyright.PENANAR4d9fTCe65
130Please respect copyright.PENANAKZfvORRHbf
He always say:
“Hard work doesn’t guarantee success…130Please respect copyright.PENANAaQTWOiCZkZ
but it always leaves behind a version of you130Please respect copyright.PENANA9uiFXCEG51
that deserved it.”
Because Ashok sir may have not reached where he once dreamed of…130Please respect copyright.PENANARaQ4RBWIsN
but he will make sure we do.
With Ravikanth and other seniors guiding us,130Please respect copyright.PENANAj24PoQJDNf
it became my playground.130Please respect copyright.PENANARmxqtmNpRO
There, I was free.130Please respect copyright.PENANAbeWZ7oL7wa
Playing, laughing, coding, dancing —130Please respect copyright.PENANA1MjZzHmpJU
No one could stop me.130Please respect copyright.PENANA5QZ7SU5BWv
Especially not when I had Richard beside me.130Please respect copyright.PENANAp2TOO2MoKV
We were fire and wind —130Please respect copyright.PENANA9gMILwBlwf
Unstoppable.
But with Forevermore —130Please respect copyright.PENANAAGY2OjeHVT
ghosting and misunderstandings came like clouds after sunshine.130Please respect copyright.PENANAmEQLQ9aEHn
Random, uninvited…130Please respect copyright.PENANARm9v1BJ19d
but somehow familiar.
Still, every evening,130Please respect copyright.PENANAoeWvAbopRC
me, her, and Ren130Please respect copyright.PENANAig3MuoleJP
would meet near her bus130Please respect copyright.PENANAIgbHR3elYr
and talk until the engines hummed and the wheels turned.
Then one day,130Please respect copyright.PENANAhWUGP8cFdT
she asked me something.
Something simple —130Please respect copyright.PENANASpToeJtz9J
about Japanese placements.
And I told her everything I knew.130Please respect copyright.PENANA8hlZUuRuR5
And when I said I was preparing too,130Please respect copyright.PENANAbQSrC5AEys
she smiled —130Please respect copyright.PENANAfKxHiwt7QQ
a kind of silent joy,130Please respect copyright.PENANA36ycA7XH6t
and said,
"We could do this together...130Please respect copyright.PENANAcF2PdGmVNO
Same boat, right?130Please respect copyright.PENANAyodxTnOOYk
Even if I stop, you’ll keep going."
And there, in that one moment,130Please respect copyright.PENANAUTkqcbQaVF
I felt it.130Please respect copyright.PENANA10IWPpmg2H
That I had become someone130Please respect copyright.PENANAPV96REpzHi
she could lean on.130Please respect copyright.PENANARGo06cVTHR
Someone she believed in.
It meant everything.
But a thought floated quietly behind that smile…
“If we weren’t in the same boat,130Please respect copyright.PENANAX45iqbdkpu
would she still think of me?”
Would she still see me,130Please respect copyright.PENANA7GhDwULe5U
or would I be ghosted — again, unknowingly —130Please respect copyright.PENANAgQPwWTvYT2
like she once said she does?
But I let that thought dissolve.130Please respect copyright.PENANAdCkGv7swca
Because this was a moment worth keeping.
We began learning together.130Please respect copyright.PENANAFcVUfWw79n
Late nights, whispering over calls,130Please respect copyright.PENANAjZxnpzG9n1
solving Java problems,130Please respect copyright.PENANATi9gom0hs8
sharing notes,130Please respect copyright.PENANAL5GrQ9vOds
and pretending it was a “revision” for me130Please respect copyright.PENANAYWp0wLTYbA
— just so she wouldn’t feel guilty.
She didn’t know130Please respect copyright.PENANAi3Ugnfe5Wg
how much I had pushed myself130Please respect copyright.PENANAG37geMpygf
to catch up,130Please respect copyright.PENANADn835PD8Pr
to be useful.130Please respect copyright.PENANAcaAG6Kd7MG
To be… enough.
But that was okay.130Please respect copyright.PENANAA5JEgPzF2q
Because I wasn’t doing it for recognition.130Please respect copyright.PENANAlEErmsTAJt
I was doing it for her.
Mornings were Technical Hub.130Please respect copyright.PENANAbStJ7kcNKd
Evenings — I’d walk her to the bus.
Her bus was parked in the middle of the college ground.130Please respect copyright.PENANABycjTWKOUL
Mine was to the right.130Please respect copyright.PENANA5P8EtAoni4
Ren’s to the left.
Like a reflection of where we all stood.130Please respect copyright.PENANAtSDjcp3BSa
Her — at the center.130Please respect copyright.PENANArmR8eKfU7t
Me — watching from a distance.130Please respect copyright.PENANAHG0ZOhN3Me
Ren — never too far.
And in between all this,130Please respect copyright.PENANAuBDusREj9H
her birthday came.
I wanted to give her something…130Please respect copyright.PENANAx7YSr1x46V
something that wouldn’t fade,130Please respect copyright.PENANA8MQMKxtb8J
even if I did.130Please respect copyright.PENANAZg7yf3LnQF
A piece of me she could keep,130Please respect copyright.PENANAgYqqP3RWmO
even if I someday became130Please respect copyright.PENANAukh0yAPmKR
just another name in her memories.
I thought of what she loved most —130Please respect copyright.PENANApM6zSTJXQ4
Harry Potter.
Seven books.130Please respect copyright.PENANA0JV1iRK0QL
Seven stories that shaped her.
One of many that she holds the closest.
I wanted to give her all of them.130Please respect copyright.PENANAxFSmslTMGP
Not at once — It would be a overkill,130Please respect copyright.PENANAeyDyeWX0xb
but over time.130Please respect copyright.PENANAZ0kB2OHdvU
130Please respect copyright.PENANAo3P7V9BUTA
Over three years.130Please respect copyright.PENANALdJ85vARYh
Because that’s how long we’d get to see each other,130Please respect copyright.PENANAiQ8yELSq2X
in this college, in this life.
A slow gift.130Please respect copyright.PENANAqiN3VQGkTW
A promise across seasons.
Not just a present —130Please respect copyright.PENANA4xF8fnmA9b
but a quiet wish.
ns216.73.216.54da2That maybe even if I couldn’t stay in her story forever,130Please respect copyright.PENANAO4iIMW5f9k
I’d be a chapter worth rereading.