Letter from Ruth Prawer Jhabvala, Delhi, India, to James Ivory, New York, New York, 1971 December 9 : autograph manuscript signed.

Assuming that Merchant will be back in New York by the time Ivory gets this letter; relating how Merchant claimed to have tried to call her from Jaipur but couldn't get through-- "What a liar"; telling him Merchant will be leaving India on the 12th, spend two days in London, then fly to New York, and "Tony [Korner] is going to Hyderabad"; describing the current climate in India: "everyone is waiting with resignation for the two armies to stop fighting"; describing the beautiful weather and her garden, where she sits each day while working on her novel-- "Sometimes there's a breeze & the pages fly away & I go running round the garden to recover them"; describing how she takes walks around the garden, and sometimes goes for walks with Jhab after he comes home, as long as they can get home before dark-- "with the black-out it's completely dark & no question ever of going out anywhere"; telling him she has been playing a Bach album she brought back from New York, and everyone in the house is trying to play the piano now, "[b]ut only Poji takes lessons & is making great progress"; describing her usual sleep pattern, and how she wakes up when "it's time for the bhajans & khyal to start on the radio"; telling him that Merchant and Korner are shooting an interview with [dancer and movie actress] Helen today, wondering what Ivory will make of the footage, and reminding him that Korner hopes to have Ivory's help with it; observing that during his "adventures," Merchant "seems to have enjoyed himself which is the most important thing, & I hope he has come back with renewed energy & resolution"; pointing out that Ivory has also enjoyed himself during this period; wondering how Ivory first got word of the war in Bengal-- "Did Joe ring you up in panic [?] ... Do you realise that I was writing to you at the exact moment when war broke out?"; describing a conversation she had with Korner in German about the Helen interview; and an idea Korner had to use a device much like a sequence in "the Nirad C. film"; imagining having Madhur "play" Helen in voiceover-- or play the Maharani of Jaipur, or Utpal play "[the Maharaja of] Udaipur; telling Ivory that today Jhab is wearing "his new suit from Bloomingdale's. I think it's the nicest suit he's ever had"; observing that Jhab also bought a Daks Simpson blazer and other clothes in Hong Kong; asking if Ivory got Jhab's letter from Bangkok [see MA 23840.967], and one from Heath in London.