This semester was…135Please respect copyright.PENANAEyIWaJl8ft
different.135Please respect copyright.PENANAJ8eV65vK9L
Special, maybe.135Please respect copyright.PENANARz79p8eHIH
Not because of what was taught —135Please respect copyright.PENANArvCoG1zjcc
but because of how we lived it.
They filtered out a handful of us —135Please respect copyright.PENANA6AXVemAE6J
called us the Bamboo Coders.135Please respect copyright.PENANAKCRNy1bAn8
A name that felt funny at first,135Please respect copyright.PENANAnWrkjMpHx7
but later —135Please respect copyright.PENANAtMWjHSlX9k
it became a badge of sorts.135Please respect copyright.PENANAv9z1ELLBVE
A sign that we were the ones chosen,135Please respect copyright.PENANAuBhDxkjLYW
to be sharpened.
We were given three days in the week,135Please respect copyright.PENANAFRqACEGBET
and half of the rest —135Please respect copyright.PENANAs4bp04BeJ7
to lose ourselves in Java, Python,135Please respect copyright.PENANAMpsAT0leiW
and Advanced Data Structures135Please respect copyright.PENANA9tn6g4BbbE
in the walls of Technical Hub.
And she was there too.135Please respect copyright.PENANA9jEEvsgrh2
Forevermore.
So were Ramu, Richard, Ren, Krish,135Please respect copyright.PENANA8eRNQz6hcN
Andrew, Simon, Harry —135Please respect copyright.PENANAMAlzasjHcO
a mix of voices, minds, and laughter.
It became our world.135Please respect copyright.PENANAfqmmcwCDL0
A bubble made of keyboard clicks,135Please respect copyright.PENANA07GIupQ0oV
mugged-up syntax, half-finished jokes,135Please respect copyright.PENANAWYWnqzUs83
and dreams stitched in code.
In the middle of all the laughter,135Please respect copyright.PENANAjz8VsjKjiz
battles of logic,135Please respect copyright.PENANAo1Oo4TDYlS
and the warmth of friendship —135Please respect copyright.PENANAE1dCNKoBG3
there stood someone we all admired135Please respect copyright.PENANAWcVT3ngIbc
but hardly spoke about.
Ashok sir.
He wasn’t just a teacher.135Please respect copyright.PENANAdQ0N3Js17N
He was a man with a gaze full of distant fires,135Please respect copyright.PENANAw0kYP498ax
a quiet dreamer who hid oceans behind his silence.135Please respect copyright.PENANAd7YVTagCNp
135Please respect copyright.PENANA9dmfM7X9gD
He taught us Advanced Data Structure. While Pavan Sir, taught us the remaining.135Please respect copyright.PENANA3aQsikfZRn
Java and Python.
He was, to me,135Please respect copyright.PENANA2QXFcaB237
a dream flower —135Please respect copyright.PENANA0wiS3bpmeJ
blooming with brilliance,135Please respect copyright.PENANAoQYXN4SnYh
but rooted too deep in a soil that wouldn’t let him move.135Please respect copyright.PENANAFvHUW0DjZ9
He wanted to do something.135Please respect copyright.PENANARZ1rzFUxd3
You could feel it.135Please respect copyright.PENANAfgxIxE4TWz
But something always held him back.
Maybe responsibilities.135Please respect copyright.PENANAgduiSfpSd1
Maybe fear.135Please respect copyright.PENANAfmhAM84Tkv
Maybe time had just moved too fast135Please respect copyright.PENANAd4AXqaZH2p
before he could catch it.135Please respect copyright.PENANA4Z9RNBxzRF
135Please respect copyright.PENANA4b4BPivOEa
He always say:
“Hard work doesn’t guarantee success…135Please respect copyright.PENANAndohfu9n8G
but it always leaves behind a version of you135Please respect copyright.PENANAYIekuVGmbJ
that deserved it.”
Because Ashok sir may have not reached where he once dreamed of…135Please respect copyright.PENANAbZKajaZgoq
but he will make sure we do.
With Ravikanth and other seniors guiding us,135Please respect copyright.PENANA5X8ypgAtLx
it became my playground.135Please respect copyright.PENANADvECy882iT
There, I was free.135Please respect copyright.PENANAnSkNhoN7nf
Playing, laughing, coding, dancing —135Please respect copyright.PENANAGNJkIV33ot
No one could stop me.135Please respect copyright.PENANAPUk38EzNhX
Especially not when I had Richard beside me.135Please respect copyright.PENANAQ0WipWQZ5H
We were fire and wind —135Please respect copyright.PENANAB3ezqVLXNK
Unstoppable.
But with Forevermore —135Please respect copyright.PENANAZgjRzgNNkC
ghosting and misunderstandings came like clouds after sunshine.135Please respect copyright.PENANAkbxCx8rAf6
Random, uninvited…135Please respect copyright.PENANAcucA8DITkm
but somehow familiar.
Still, every evening,135Please respect copyright.PENANAbLWP9kLauL
me, her, and Ren135Please respect copyright.PENANAxHixL2auPV
would meet near her bus135Please respect copyright.PENANAEbUgO1QwP9
and talk until the engines hummed and the wheels turned.
Then one day,135Please respect copyright.PENANAugbBl9IEvg
she asked me something.
Something simple —135Please respect copyright.PENANAmZBO2xWHuw
about Japanese placements.
And I told her everything I knew.135Please respect copyright.PENANAesfbFcdHhY
And when I said I was preparing too,135Please respect copyright.PENANAzfq71MW27W
she smiled —135Please respect copyright.PENANA42rRhgniMA
a kind of silent joy,135Please respect copyright.PENANAw1yvt12tOJ
and said,
"We could do this together...135Please respect copyright.PENANAD26bxy3CCw
Same boat, right?135Please respect copyright.PENANAkmAqCgCGlJ
Even if I stop, you’ll keep going."
And there, in that one moment,135Please respect copyright.PENANAnXr4WKXdTA
I felt it.135Please respect copyright.PENANA7AbY6pG4Eb
That I had become someone135Please respect copyright.PENANAXYUqlCwnv8
she could lean on.135Please respect copyright.PENANAjWlhUnONQZ
Someone she believed in.
It meant everything.
But a thought floated quietly behind that smile…
“If we weren’t in the same boat,135Please respect copyright.PENANAg5Pebov7Tp
would she still think of me?”
Would she still see me,135Please respect copyright.PENANAyYwXb3xObJ
or would I be ghosted — again, unknowingly —135Please respect copyright.PENANAypDl9ycIDK
like she once said she does?
But I let that thought dissolve.135Please respect copyright.PENANAHQU9sbj4nX
Because this was a moment worth keeping.
We began learning together.135Please respect copyright.PENANAo4WlCGQ8x4
Late nights, whispering over calls,135Please respect copyright.PENANApCrnY8uInt
solving Java problems,135Please respect copyright.PENANAbnpIfhSLYY
sharing notes,135Please respect copyright.PENANADmCIwkwaXV
and pretending it was a “revision” for me135Please respect copyright.PENANApdZS77Oq2w
— just so she wouldn’t feel guilty.
She didn’t know135Please respect copyright.PENANAX4uSuZcuTW
how much I had pushed myself135Please respect copyright.PENANAujV1GoSLkI
to catch up,135Please respect copyright.PENANAwtILwmsIRe
to be useful.135Please respect copyright.PENANAeY79jF6aJl
To be… enough.
But that was okay.135Please respect copyright.PENANAzLnup81bzj
Because I wasn’t doing it for recognition.135Please respect copyright.PENANA0ug8Pp4mtA
I was doing it for her.
Mornings were Technical Hub.135Please respect copyright.PENANAzNtKSkwPcb
Evenings — I’d walk her to the bus.
Her bus was parked in the middle of the college ground.135Please respect copyright.PENANACgcITNRJFS
Mine was to the right.135Please respect copyright.PENANAx3SJnkeUFh
Ren’s to the left.
Like a reflection of where we all stood.135Please respect copyright.PENANAmrzfAtKxte
Her — at the center.135Please respect copyright.PENANAgBzV4oXEX8
Me — watching from a distance.135Please respect copyright.PENANAm83ub4TkBX
Ren — never too far.
And in between all this,135Please respect copyright.PENANAL1utZfqh43
her birthday came.
I wanted to give her something…135Please respect copyright.PENANA9LKRmaXISp
something that wouldn’t fade,135Please respect copyright.PENANAjiOm7nakdo
even if I did.135Please respect copyright.PENANAsMuKibSScW
A piece of me she could keep,135Please respect copyright.PENANAtiRTerBnLI
even if I someday became135Please respect copyright.PENANAR9Eqaq8QhS
just another name in her memories.
I thought of what she loved most —135Please respect copyright.PENANAzqw2qZ4fXE
Harry Potter.
Seven books.135Please respect copyright.PENANAzzS2QQbXOA
Seven stories that shaped her.
One of many that she holds the closest.
I wanted to give her all of them.135Please respect copyright.PENANAKyPNvi500g
Not at once — It would be a overkill,135Please respect copyright.PENANAfOArWjs2Sz
but over time.135Please respect copyright.PENANAJGslQltyUR
135Please respect copyright.PENANAePnfKC4dcP
Over three years.135Please respect copyright.PENANAv4WJvzsOen
Because that’s how long we’d get to see each other,135Please respect copyright.PENANAzgesnJgKbi
in this college, in this life.
A slow gift.135Please respect copyright.PENANAhHeQdT6fw0
A promise across seasons.
Not just a present —135Please respect copyright.PENANA9mptjciKuq
but a quiet wish.
ns216.73.216.0da2That maybe even if I couldn’t stay in her story forever,135Please respect copyright.PENANAfgqx1grBDY
I’d be a chapter worth rereading.