Letter from Ruth Prawer Jhabvala, Delhi, India, to James Ivory, New York, New York, 1971 January 28 : autograph manuscript signed.

Hoping that this letter, a continuation of the previous one [see MA 23840.913] arrives with its companion, but "never mind if it doesn't though because I've kept it self-contained"; wondering if he has received her other letter containing clippings about Satyajit Ray and others; saying Jhab is at the moment screening a print of "Bombay Talkie" sent from Bombay by Shashi for a new Secretary-- the old one having been transferred-- and meditating on how Jhab has become "hardened and doesn't care if they do sit like wood and stone" during the screening; promising to let Ivory and Merchant know what happened as soon as she knows; describing a run-in she had at a party with an annoying, blunt woman; recounting how she received "a letter from a complete stranger in Kerala who said he'd got my address out of the Indian Writers' Who's Who and felt he had to write me because he'd heard that I was about to leave India forever"; comparing the experience to other pleasant, unexpected events; picking up the next day to relate Jhab's experience at the screening: "The Secretary was ill-- high fever and all-- but he came all the same, accompanied by a very sharp Bengali toad wife"; saying the other "Deputy Secretaries & Under-Secretaries" present all spoke well of the film and promised to "do what they could" and they should have an answer "in a few days"; observing that the only possible problem is "the Minister (Sinha) who might demand to see it and complicate everything all over again; promising to "let you know as soon as there is a decision."