Letter from James Ivory, Mumbai, India, to Ruth Prawer Jhabvala, Delhi, India, 1967 October 9 : typescript signed.

Describing in detail his and Merchant's flight to Bombay and arrival at Merchant's family home; describing their activities for each of the last six days-- visits to Prabhu, Jennifer, Alan Noronha; describing an adventure in a Bombay taxi with a flat tire on Marine Drive, and dinner at the Taj; taking Merchant's sister Shaida to the doctor; scouting locations and casting roles for "The Guru"; relating an experience with illness and no water in the bathroom; describing a dinner party at [director of J. Walter Thompson-India] Nuru Swaminadhan's home, and lunch at Motlibai Street with Jennifer and her sons Kunal and Karan, lunch with other friends, and a visit to Dilip Kumar; describing "tea with the budi-- or rather four budis", Stella Snead, Lisbeth Holmes, Laura Hamilton, and an unidentified fourth, and a return to Dilip Kumar's; relating the details of a horrific visit to "Dr. Hakim, a Parsi scientist," and his lab full of half-vivsected animals; shifting subjects-- "Up to here Jhab is welcome to read. From here on it's not important"-- to discuss various bits of business related to "The Guru"; noting that "Mike Neff [Muriel Peters] writes from New York that Lee Sabinson is always calling up and pestering her to be sure to tell Ismail to get him his horoscope," and suggesting that he and she (Ivory and Jhabvala) make one up instead, "and hang witchcrafty bits of things around the edges..."; explaining that the enclosed postcard [see MA 23840.378c] was written by Peter [Reilly], but is "supposed to be from Lillian."