Letter from Ruth Prawer Jhabvala, Delhi, India, to James Ivory, New York, New York, 1964 January 29 : autograph manuscript signed.

Asking if Ivory has received the outline she sent for "Shakespeare Wallah"; feeling the "bits" with the characters to be played by Madhur and Saeed Jaffrey work better in this draft, although she suspects it will be difficut to get them both, and feels Madhur is the more "valuable" one; suggesting that Ivory is "thinking of too many locations" and suggesting that one hill station could stand for "3 or 6 or all of them," likewise with towns; advising Ivory not to bring any costumes from America, except for tights, which are difficult to get in India; saying she is excited to discover that Prayaag Raj, who is working wih Shashi, is something of an expert in Ramlila drama, and looking forward to reading his notes on it; pointing out that Merchant is still keen on shooting "The Widow" with Geeta Bali, and she is coming around to the idea, but has asked Merchant to "please not to breathe down our necks" about it; saying she has been seeing Jennifer almost daily, and using the memories she shares for her writing; confiding that she is trying very hard to get Shashi to take them to "the house of what you call a songstress"-- he is resisting-- and she intends to go dressed as a man to "experience some very comical and risqué situations"; suggesting that, if Ivory brings his father to India, that he make "careful" arrangements for him at one of the hill stations (to protect him from the heat).