They were walking home together. Karthik was an engineering graduate, who had fallen into the stereotype of a coding job, after having counted on the campus placements to provide him with some kind of a job which could fill his hands. He earned a handsome salary. Pushpa, on the contrary, was always clear about what she wanted to do. Her parents used to ask her when she was three about what she wanted to be, and she used to say, in a voice, with a few syllables swallowed, "Scientist". She was one, among the country's best bio-genetic scientists, and worked extensively in solving problems relating to the missing gene, the ones which relieve mice of oxidative stress. The gene helped in self repair of DNA in mice, and she was working on modifying it as per the needs of the human being, to make it usable by the human.
They hardly understood each other's work, so they generally refrained talking about it. As they were walking, chatting about some newly released movie, a biker zoomed past them, patting Pushpa at the rear. He turned and came back, and asked her if she wanted a lift. Anger was seething through Karthik's teeth, but he kept himself under check. He asked the guy to move away, and the guy kept making lewd comments. Karthik raised a hand to hit him, and then backed away. The guy kept teasing her, till a policeman came that way. Seeing the policeman approach, the guy pulled out a small blade, and made a small cut on Pushpa's shirt, and sped off. Karthik tried running after him, but he kicked Karthik down on the road. Karthik was left watching helplessly as he sped away. There was one sequence which stuck to his mind. TN-27 B-5673.
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