Letter from Ruth Prawer Jhabvala, Delhi, India, to James Ivory, New York, New York, 1967 May 1: autograph manuscript signed.

Commenting with dread and awe at the work of casting "Vertical and Horizontal"; voicing some surprise, since she she had assumed Ivory was settled on Joan Hackett for the part of Annie; changing the subject "Yesterday I too had an exhausting experience, Jhab having invited two people for lunch & the conversation turning into a [sic] Intellectual Discussion of the Delhi kind. Murder. Actually he had invited them for our friend Vidia Naipaul who was staying with us"; elaborating on what she hates about these kinds of conversations, and the kind of people who have them; turning to "What joy, by comparison, to talk to (or rather, listen to) Nirad Chaudhuri, back again from England"; describing a young man she met who embodies the character Laurence in their "Shakespeare Wallah" sequel story, an artist visiting from England named David Gentleman-- "he was very English, very slim, & wore a beautiful paisley shirt"; describing a "very pretty English girl I met here with lots of eye make-up & a stunning dress ... 17 years old & pretty & gay"; describing her own situation, Delhi being "not very hot just now" but still "terribly oppressive," and spending most of her time lying down; saying she has just received his postcard from L'Etoile-- "But I wish ... you could be here, lying in the room downstairs with the shutters shut while I'm lying in the room upstairs with the shutters shut."