Letter from Ruth Prawer Jhabvala, Delhi, India, to James Ivory, New York, New York, 1967 February 23: autograph manuscript signed.

Discussing in detail the results of the recent elections in India, with the heavy loss of support for the Congress Party, and why even though it marked an increase in support for the Hindu nationalist party Jana Sangh, which she and Jhab loathe, they are rejoicing out "of revenge, of spite"; saying "yesterday I put Ismail back on the plane to Bombay," after being surprised at the airport by Faie Joyce, who was on the same flight; mentioning the arrangements being made for the Indian premiere of "Shakespeare Wallah" by Catherine Freeman and her "marvellous committee meetings," which Merchant attended; mentioning in passing the cuts the censors have demanded in order to get a U certificate, and saying they should ignore them and go with an A certificate instead; describing a visit to Delhi by Shashi, who confronted Merchant about his claim that Shashi's part in "Pretty Polly" [a.k.a. "A Matter of Innocence"] was offered to him first, but nonetheless had dinner with them all at Moti Mahal and "in his large handsome way had a bottle of champagne on ice for us"; describing a subsequent dinner at Madhur's house with Merchant, Jhab, and the Glazers, and Ruth's disappointment at not getting to see the miniskirt dress Madhur had ordered-- not ready yet-- "I was longing to see her model it"; saying Madhur had written to Satyajit Ray about a part in his Hindi film production, but he replied that it had fallen through; telling him Ray had told her that getting financing was harder now for him than it had been when he made his first films, which outraged Merchant; asserting with shock that Merchant has told her that Ivory keeps "shouting at Lillian," and though it seems to work, claiming it is a "bad habit"; saying Merchant plans go back to Bombay on the 2nd [of March] and to be back in New York by the 8th.