Letter from Ruth Prawer Jhabvala, Delhi, India, to James Ivory, New York, New York, 1971 December 3 : autograph manuscript signed.

Updating Ivory on Merchant's travel plans, the latter having left for Bikaner, but vowing to return to New York "very soon"; describing how angry she was with Merchant for not letting her speak to Ivory when he had him on the phone, and how she stayed angry with him for the next two days; relating how he diffused her anger by giving her "one of those exquisite architectural drawings" and promising to go to Nizamuddin and the poet's tomb with her; saying while she was just writing, there had been an air raid warning-- as Ava, Poji, Polly and Jhab were all out, she lit candles and continued writing her letter while listening to "my new Mass in B Minor"; everyone was home late and when the girls arrived, it was "with strange tales"-- apparently Pakistan had taken to bombing Indian airports, so the Delhi airport was "blacked-out" as a precaution; saying later Jhab phoned to say he was stuck without his car and would try to find a taxi home; wondering, "Is this war, really?"; describing the atmosphere of previous months, with "skirmishes" and millions of refugees, and feeling something has changed; worrying about Merchant in Bikaner, and how he is going to get home; picking up writing the next morning, with spotty information, but noting that twelve Indian airports were reported bombed; noting that Radio Pakistan and "A.I." [All-India Radio] are aiming "exactly the same accusations" at each other; concluding that "IT'S WAR. Damn."