Letter from James Ivory, New York, New York, to Ruth Prawer Jhabvala, Delhi, India, 1971 February 25 : typescript manuscript.

Observing that as he writes, "Bombay Talkie" is opening in India and wishing "good luck to us all!"; saying that "at this auspicious time, at this moment of the conjunction of Heavenly Bodies, I sit down to type out for the first time (in full) my ideas about an Indian Madame Bovary"; acknowledging that Jhabvala may not take to the idea, but encouraging her to read on; spending 3 pages with a hyper-detailed account of his plan for the story, including annotations added later that add both clarification and embellishment; finishing the summary and telling Jhabvala that he isn't in a rush to make the project; hoping that she likes the idea, and when she isn't busy with another projet, she will work on developing it with him; musing about changing his proposed ending; thinking it might be a good idea to try and capture the "spaced-out types you meet here [in New York] constantly" and that "the possibilities of an 'Indian' acid trip on film could be terribly interesting--the jumble of New York and Indian images"; saying that acid trips on film are pretty commonplace, and usually dull, but that this one could be interesting; describing the materials he will enclose with the letter which include an issue of "Rolling Stone" that features an interview with John Lennon, the newspaper of American Buddhists, a folder from a revival church in Harlem, news of a converted film palace from the 1920s, and "other oddities"; closing with more speculation about how the "Bombay Talkie" premiere is going; noting that Merchant will leave to come back to New York later today, and he himself will travel to Boston for three days to convince Cary Welch to star in one of his projects.