October 24, 1973
Dear Maharani and Debi:
First let me tell you that I received a most delightful letter from Freddie with greetings for Vijaya. It was beautifully written and illustrated and thoroughly enjoyed!
We had a call from Fogarty center a while back saying that the Summary of your report was too long for the 200 words allotted to the computerized record. Koteswara revised and shortened it and we hope it meets with your approval. A copy of both original and new version is  enclosed.
The move to the Cancer Institute involves only my own group from the present Section. Bob Goldberger, also now in Arthritis Institute, will become the Lab Chief in Cancer Institute. My group will be expanded to include Claude Klee as an independent investigator. She will be going back to work on polynucleotide phosphorylase. So far the time of the move is not set as it involves several other moves before the space is cleared for us. I am hoping it will be early spring.
Needless to say we are distressed that there has been no progress between the two governments with regard to agreement on the PL-480 matter. Science suffers while the diplomats discourse. But in view of the general situation, that matter seems small. We are of course very concerned with the war in the middle-east. And the year-long agonies of our Government get worse and worse each day.  Never in the two-hundred years of the Republic has there been anything like this and where it will end is anyone's guess.
In the meantime I'll mention another problem -- outlined  in the enclosed newspaper clipping.  There is really a need for some effort on the part of Indian scholars to inform the Government of India as to the problems raised by such policies. I have also sent a copy of this to Pushpa.
We are moving along slowly in the lab. Hopefully it is progress but we are not always sure. Koteswar may have some interesting observations. Using toluenized cells (E. coli) he seems to have a PNPased catalyzed addition of poly A sequences to a preexisting RNA. The RNA itself is a very tiny percent of total cellular RNA, which at least allows the possibility of something interesting. His SV-40 work is slow -- for scientific reasons. Our defectives behave differently in Bethesda than they did in Rehovoth.  We're trying to sort it all out. Very best to both of you, the family, and the lab.
Sincerely,
Maxine Singer