Letter from Ruth Prawer Jhabvala, Delhi, India, to James Ivory, New York, New York, 1971 August 5 : autograph manuscript signed.

Telling him that "Ved is here (to gather material for a book on Gandhi) and is finding it a depressing experience"; describing the people he is interviewing: "all garrulous crackpot forgotten old men, living in holes and corners, smelling of old age and vegetarianism"; describing how Ved has found everything "so low, so run-down, so spiritless ... It is as if the bluff has been called and as a result all the fine phrases about democracy and a progressive society and modern minds have died on everyone's lips"; noting that "this public depression seems to be deeply eating into private life as well," and illustrating this with remarks from her friends Nita and Ashwin, who were in Kasauli at the same time as the Jhabvalas [in early June 1971; see MA 23840.949], who felt "deeply tired ... of the jobs they were doing, and how they longed to give them up and do something else, only the perks attached to the jobs were too good so that one couldn't give them up but had to go on suffering, and how [one] longed for some kind of oblivion"; observing of Ashwin, for "a man in the prime of life-- who has had every advantage that India offers the sons of its rich-- to talk like that!"; noting that Jhab is one of the few exceptions; adding that Ved has also observed that "the people who were at Oxford with him who just a short time ago ... [who] he thought so lively and enthusiastic, are now bored and boring old men with all the life squeezed out of them"; wondering "Why, why does it have to be so?"; describing a recurring family joke, which "originated with my mother-in-law," that "India is not ready yet ..."; recounting instances of "India is not ready for train travel yet" and "India is not ready for Japanese gardens yet" (the latter said to Nirad Chaudhuri); suggesting that-- though it is ultimately a trivial problem-- "India is not ready for MIP films or Jhabvala novels yet"; describing Madhur-- "She's here just now, with mice and Sanford"-- who "seems resigned to the fact that there is no work for her anywhere"; relating that Shashi, who "was here too yesterday," is also experiencing hardship-- "It seems to me that his present plight is also due to his being, like Madhur, simply too good for the place"; maintaining that Shashi's talent and image lack the more popular "animal quality of other Indian stars, of Ragesh [sic] Khanna for instance, who has so completely displaced him"; insisting that, in spite of having "no work at all," Shashi is "very much keeping his dignity in these dire circumstances"; saying Shashi "reminds me of Nirad Chaudhuri a bit, when he was without job and money, and was upright and splendid and full of courage"; telling him Shashi has taken on the distribution of his film "Sharmili" and regards it as "his last chance"; noting also that "Jennifer is going through hell right now" and Jhab, recently returned from Bombay, reports that she and Shashi are fighting; describing Jennifer's tendency toward "a sort of excess of love"-- you know how she is with her family-- with Shashi & the children & the Kendals-- frantic with love, hysterical & angry at anything threatening them."