Letter from Ruth Prawer Jhabvala, Delhi, India, to James Ivory, New York, New York, 1971 November 21 : autograph manuscript signed.

Playfully presenting Ivory with "some more tasks" and amusing herself by imagining that these tasks will offer Ivory a stabilizing sort of "ballast" in his daily life, comparing them to "your Sundays with Lillian, Erik, and Mr. Shawn"; outlining "Task No. 1": finding "two sort of printed textile scrolls" she accidentally left in his apartment in New York and sending them to her friend Marghanita in London; explaining that she is "very fond of these things"; describing how "I love being with Marghanita in her house in London, it's one of the nicest places I know there"; describing her friend's domestic setup and expressing incredulity at the discovery that "Marghanita embroiders [underlined]"-- "It's like cooking and singing, my other two elusive arts that I yearn for" [see MA 23840.949]; adding that she also enjoyed meeting Eden Fleming [Eden Box] at a long tea at the Hyde Park Hotel-- "I like her ruined face and untidy hair and art nouveau clothes"-- and relating Fleming's comments on "the Nirad C. film," and Fleming's friend Lesley Blanch, whose husband Romain Gary left her for Jean Seberg; also relating a comment from Fleming which "pleased" Jhabvala, "how she never really knew you -- how her acquaintance has really been with Ismail, and you were just someone in the background, but how now you had stepped into the foreground and how fond of you she'd become"; wondering, as today is Sunday, if Ivory is "going cycling in the park" and if "chill winds are blowing" in New York; contrasting that with the scene in her garden, where "I'm sitting in the garden in the sun only I'm going to go in now because it's too hot. The sky is the purest, palest blue and the trees are green"; moving on to "Task No. 2": passing on and filling out paperwork for Renana's application to Radcliffe, including adding the $5 application fee; noting she will also be sending a form for Ved to fill out; saying she hasn't heard from Filmways and wondering how long she should wait before writing again, and then what she should say; noting she has heard from the Authors' Guild; telling him "Jhab is not here to consult" as he has left for Hong Kong; adding she will consult with Merchant when he reappears, and supposing "he must have reached Jaisalmer by now & will be turning up soon"; telling him she has seen Shashi, who is in town for "the premiere of his brother Raj's film in which his father also played"; observing that "Shashi seemed subdued," and although his film "Sharmili" "has been quite successful," he hasn't signed onto anything else, and is anxious about Conrad Rooks and "Siddhartha"; quoting Shashi that Rooks "is a madman & he doesn't know how he will ever work with him & the madman keeps ringing him up from London" and insulting MIP even though "he will be heavily dependent on MIP's equipment & Shashi hopes Ismail will be making a packet out of him"; wondering if "Siddhartha will ever be made"; speculating that both Shashi and Merchant have "reached an age where the world's glitter which looked so marvellous at 25 is seen not to be so marvellous after all, & all the things that were once beautiful & desirable look a bit tarnished now & not so much worth having"; telling Ivory "the orphans have started on your handkerchiefs" and describing the "peaceful" scene of two children and their "supervisor" working on them.