Letter from James Ivory, Mumbai, India, to Ruth Prawer Jhabvala, Delhi, India, 1968 July 6 : typescript signed.

Referring to "the annual Artists and Writers Ball" currently going on downstairs [at the Taj Mahal Hotel], and thinking he might join Merchant there later; admitting that Merchant was right when he pronounced the "Guru" script too long, but now that everything has been shot, Ivory will have to "edit everything and put it all together, and then just throw out whatever sags or bores us"; answering her question, posed in her letter of June 26 [see MA 23840.481], about whether he enjoyed making "The Guru"; chiding her for putting off offering criticism to him-- "I can take it, and what you've just said is more true than untrue"; pointing out that "In London I began picking up bills in restaurants," to the astonishment of old friends; admitting he enjoyed picking up the check and "would especially like to take Shashi and Jennifer out (not to mention you and Jhab)"; recounting "an opportunity I had last fall" to do so, but after giving instructions to restaurant staff that he be handed the check, "that fool of blinking fools let the bill be given to Shashi"; asking "What is the other criticism you have to make? Out with it."; relating how Merchant recently told him "in a very quiet tone of voice, quite in sorrow and not in anger, that I am an ungenerous person, and that this was a trait those who love me would have to live with"; admitting that this may be true; picking up later, after looking in on the Artists Ball and dancing until it was over; describing the crowd and the setting-- "This party was different from any other I've been to in Bombay in that there were few old stodgy types trying to create gloom, there was a bar with-- I couldn't believe it-- alcoholic beverage for all comers. In fact, it was a dance like anywhere else in the world for once"; describing a young woman at the party with "a fabulous voice"-- "Usha Putle" [i.e. Asha Puthli]-- "making these high yelps into the mike, and I must say she sounded fine"; describing the light and dance show; saying "Jhab sent us the nicest letter the other day, positively chirpy" without any of the usual reprimands; saying he expects her, and hopefully Jhab, to come down to Bombay at the end of the month; updating her on how the editing is going; giving some notes on how he sees the stories in "Passion" playing out; admitting he has reached the point where he is no longer interested in showing India as "a special place," but in telling stories about people as people; further mulling over the question "Have I enjoyed making the Guru?"; commenting on the removal of the statue of King George from a shrine in front of India Gate in Delhi [and relocated to Coronation Park in that same city]; saying the monsoon has arrived "with a great crash."