Letter from Ismail Merchant, Delhi, India, to James Ivory, New York, New York, [1964] March 24 : autograph manuscript signed.

Acknowledging receipt of Ivory's telegram the night before; saying he tried to see B.K. Nehru while he was in town but was unable to; saying Mr. Dutt of the Finance MInistry has not yet seen all the papers pertaining to the Columbia affair, and that he and Jhab have an appointment to see Dutt at 4:30 that afternoon; recounting how the Maharaja of Bikaner spoke in support of "The Householder" in the Lok Saba recently; picking up writing after seeing Dutt, who was disagreeable but suggested they speak to Mr. Adarkar the Finance Minister, which they did, and he agreed to add "The Householder" to Columbia's quota; asking Ivory to get Columbia New York to agree to this "special favor" and then "hurry back" to India as Ruth needs to work directly with him on the "Shakespeare Wallah" script; saying he went to Nizamuddin with Ruth, Jhab, and Poji on Sunday; signing off with a postscript on the outside of the aerogramme: "Jim, please don't be disturbed, everything will be well. Take care of yourself, Ismail."