Letter from Ruth Prawer Jhabvala, Delhi, India, to James Ivory, New York, New York, 1967 June 2: autograph manuscript signed.

Saying she heard in a letter from Jennifer that Ivory will be meeting Jennifer and Shashi in Italy; expressing pleasure at this, especially since she has been reading "The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire" and Plutarch's 'Lives'"; describing the parts of these two works she likes best; continuing that Jennifer says they will also be visiting Kashmir later in the year and wishing she could go too, but the children's school schedules conflict; telling them to write to her at the Cecil Hotel in Simla next week; passing on from Jennifer the news that Shashi's performance in "Pretty Polly" ["A Matter of Innocence"] is getting rave reviews, so much so that it has shifted the focus of the film; saying they [Merchant and Ivory] have "succeeded in frightening me thoroughly" about casting Dilip Kumar, but maintaining that Shashi is too young to play the Ustad in "The Guru"; claiming that Uttam Kumar "has already proved himself incompetant in 'Nayak'"; discussing possible titles for her next short story collection, including "A Stronger Climate"; relating the details of negotiations with the BBC to adapt some of her stories for television-- "the BBC pays so little that I can afford to be snooty"; again encouraging Ivory to go to Italy.