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Nick’s day at IndSyn had been productive and enjoyable. The facilities were impressive and the staff appeared enthusiastic and competent. However, there were still some problems to sort out. Despite the slick presentations their productivity was still below what could be considered acceptable and there had been some failed steps which were holding up progress.
‘Well, thanks, Sanjay,’ said Nick. ‘That was a good summary of the project you have at the moment but there are still some key compounds which we are waiting for you to synthesise.’
‘Of course, Nick, we will be addressing those as a priority.’
‘That’s good but how do you plan to improve the steps and in some cases actually make progress?’
Sanjay brought up another slide on his laptop. ‘These are our next attempts.’
Nick stared at the slide for a while. He could see a flaw in their plans. There was no way this was going to work.
‘I see. Well, I don’t want to sound harsh but I’m not confident that will work. You see, that particular subset of compounds is a special case. I’ve got some other suggestions. I was sure I sent those through to you.’
‘Did you? I don’t think so,’ said Sanjay defensively.
‘Well, it doesn’t matter now as I can go through it again with you. But I’d like to speak to the chemists who are actually doing the reactions.’
‘I don’t think that will be necessary,’ said Sanjay quickly.
Nick raised his eyebrows. ‘Why not?’
‘It’s not the way we work here. I am in charge of this section and I will tell the team leaders and they will convey it to the chemists.’
This was precisely why there were issues thought Nick. There were too many people in the chain. Messages could get lost or instructions jumbled. It wasn’t an efficient way of doing things.
‘I appreciate this is the way you have been used to working but I’m afraid we need to make some changes. I need to speak to,’ he paused to look at his report, ‘Aarav and Riya.’
‘Their English isn’t very fluent,’ said Sanjay.
‘I’m sure it will be good enough. I can write out the reactions to explain. Chemical structures are understandable in any language.’
‘I’ll come along with you and sit in on the meeting,’ said Sanjay.
‘I’d really rather speak to them alone. If I need help I’ll come and find you.’
Nick wasn’t going to back down on this one. He needed to speak to the chemists involved in an environment where they weren’t inhibited by their supervisor.
‘I’ll go and find them and ask them to come here. I’ll be in my office down the corridor if you should need me,’ he said stiffly. He was clearly annoyed at Nick’s challenge of his authority.
Whilst he was out of the room, Nick tried once again to phone Polly, however, it just cut to voicemail. He looked at the time and realised it would be late morning there and so she was doubtless in meetings of her own. He sent a quick text to say all was well with him and he would try again later.
A worried pair of chemists knocked at the door. Nick stood to let them in and shook hands with them both. They were in their twenties he guessed, the young woman Riya looked to be around twenty-two or three and Aarav was possibly a few years older. After the introductions were over he explained what he wanted from them. They were each clutching their laboratory notebooks containing details of the experiments. Both looked as though they had been asked to attend a police interview. Inwardly Nick sighed, this was going to require a lot of coaxing to get to the bottom of the problems here.
**
Maureen felt slightly better after her relaxing bath. However, her appetite had deserted her and she barely managed a cheese sandwich for lunch. She had missed a couple of calls from Ron and decided to text him to hopefully head off more calls this afternoon. She didn’t want to speak to him until she had things clearer in her own mind. In the very near future, she would have to face him but she needed to plan carefully what she intended to say. Texting that she was going for a pedicure and then out for afternoon tea with a neighbour should stop any further attempts at contact from him.
Maureen took a cup of tea outside and sat in the shade on the patio. The feeling of loneliness which had been absent for the last few weeks had now returned with full force. It had extended its tendrils around her and she felt destined to a life rolling around in the large house having the radio for company. She realised how small her support network was and how it had been eroded by Hubert over the years in order to make her increasingly dependent on him. She was reasonably friendly with Felicity Shipton but it wasn’t a relationship you could call close. Similarly, Evelyn Secombe wasn’t a person she felt she could warm to. Playing bridge with them was one thing but having a heart to heart conversation with them was entirely another. They were often busy with grandchildren and so there was little time to socialise. Perhaps the best thing would be to join some clubs or take up a new hobby. It wouldn’t solve her immediate problem though, she desperately wanted someone to confide in here and now and that person just didn’t exist.
For the first time since she’d received the shocking news about Hubert’s death, she began to cry. One phone call had swept her new-found happiness away in a matter of seconds. Her trust in Ron had evaporated and it wasn’t clear whether it was ever going to return.
**
Nick’s meeting with Aarav and Riya was drawing to a close. After a rather stilted and turgid start he had managed to gain their confidence and he now knew the reasons behind their lack of success. They had been unable to order good quality dry solvents for the work which had meant the water sensitive reagents had not worked as well as they should. Sanjay had told them to move on to other targets rather than trying to sort out the troublesome ones and at one point had interrupted their work and had given them another project to do when they should have been fully devoted to work for PersCure. It was no wonder that progress had been disappointing. Nick would speak to Sanjay in private about this and make it quite clear that if they wanted to retain the contract this would have to stop.
‘Thanks, guys, that’s been really useful. Do you feel confident that you know what to try next?’
‘Yes, thanking you very much,’ said Aarav. ‘Can we email you directly to check with you if we are having the problems?’
‘Of course, anytime.’ Nick gave them each his business card and they pocketed them.
‘Shall I go and get Sanjay?’ asked Riya. ‘Can I get you a cup of tea or anything?’
‘Yes, we’ve finished now. Thanks but I’m OK with water.’
‘So, are you from Mumbai?’ he asked Aarav.
‘Yes, my family are all here although I was the first member of my family to go to university. I am very lucky.’
‘Have you any brothers or sisters?’
‘Yes, two brothers and one sister. They are working in the family business. My father has a clothing factory.’
They were interrupted by the return of Sanjay with Riya.
‘Hi, Sanjay. Well, I think I’m about finished here. I’d like to have a look around the rest of the building before I go if that’s OK?’
‘Certainly. What are you doing for dinner tonight?’
‘Oh, I’ll eat at the hotel, I think.’
‘We would like to take you out to a restaurant. Would you like that? The Head of the company would like to meet you. Aarav would you like to come?’
‘Yes, thank you, Sanjay. Thank you very much?’
‘Oh, I’ve just remembered, I’ll need to cancel my taxi. It was due to pick me up from here at 5 p.m.’
‘No problem. Riya, can you sort that out please?’
Nick noticed that no invitation to dinner was extended to Riya. It was to be an all-male gathering. However, she’d been asked to cancel his taxi, that was assumed to be a task fit for a woman. It wasn’t for Nick though, to intervene in the local culture. It was a pity that despite the improvements in equality there was still a way to go before life here was on a par with Western culture. Nick was pleased to be invited but it meant that he would have to delay phoning Polly. He would send her a text to explain that she would probably be at home before he got chance to call her this evening.
