Whithered Flower

Written by S.G. Jilanee • January 2011

It was the romance of the century. A teen-aged girl had been infatuated with a man more than double her age. Understandably their marriage sent “shock waves’ not only in Bombay’s civil society but “all across India.”

Mohammad Ali Jinnah was forty-one, a bright lawyer, a rising star on the country’s political firmament, and a Muslim. Ruttie Dinshaw Petit was eighteen, called the “Flower of Bombay” by her admirers, for her exquisite beauty, the only daughter of the fabulously rich, Sir Manockjee Dinshaw Petit, and a Parsi. Jinnah was also, technically a widower. He was first married in 1892. The next year he sailed for England to study. And by the time he returned four years later his “child bride” had passed away.

Yet, when Cupid struck, all differences were swept away. What each saw in the other can at best be conjectured. Khwaja Razi Haider, in his book, Ruttie Jinnah tries to suggest that “Ruttie revered Jinnah’s wisdom and logic; he was enamored of her exceptional intellect.” But if could not have been only the meeting of the minds; their physical attraction towards each other must also have played its role. Ruttie was irresistible; Jinnah handsome and charismatic.

Another reason for Ruttie to be attracted to Jinnah could have been her ambition to earn fame as the wife of a reputed public figure as apparent from the fact that after her marriage she accompanied her husband to every public meeting and sat in the front row. Her nationalist bent of mind would also have synced with Jinnah’s. With Jinnah, Ruttie could also make her mark as a political figure. In fact this could have become a reality had she lived, because it was her vacancy that Miss Fatima Jinnah, later, filled.

Jinnah frequently visited Sir Dinshaw at his home and often stayed on for dinner. They discussed India’s political and social problems. Ruttie, whose mind was “so alert, her intellect so lively and probing, (and who) took as much interest in politics as she did in …poetry,” often joined their conversation. She must have been favorably impressed by Jinnah’s brilliance that kindled the spark for him in her innocent heart.

Their 1916 holiday in Darjeeling did the rest. Instead of the Nilgiris, closer to home, the Petits and Jinnah both went to Darjeeling on a holiday perhaps because it is sited at a higher altitude with a more bracing climate. Thrown together as never before, here was an opportunity for the lovelorn pair to observe each other closely. Horse-riding and maybe long walks in Darjeeling’s salubrious climate and its serene beauty provided an ideal setting for romance to blossom.

Because Sir Dinshaw would not approve of their marriage they waited for two years until Ruttie came of age. And when she did, the impetuous damsel gave up her family, her home and even her religion. She converted to Islam, because, Jinnah would not agree to civil marriage. Their marriage was solemnized according to Muslim rites in 1918.

Ruttie’s conversion to Islam, more than her marriage as such, triggered strong resentment in the Parsi community. Particularly devastated was Sir Dinshaw. His wife and son, though, were more accepting of the situation. It was only when Ruttie was on her deathbed that Sir Dinshaw reconciled with her and spoke to Jinnah on phone to inform him of her demise.

The author has produced much credible evidence about Ruttie’s conversion to Islam in order to refute the tirade many years later, by Jinnah’s political rivals in the Majlis-e-Ahrar and Jamiatul Ulama-i-Hind, that it was a civil marriage.

The union started on a happy note. She had brought sunshine into his dreary life, face-upping his office and his home. In return, a frugal Jinnah indulged her extravagance, such as quietly paying Rs 50,000 bill for the expenses Ruttie incurred over a three month period in renovating a house Jinnah owned in Srinagar. He also came home from his office sooner to be with her.

Ruttie also enjoyed supporting her husband in his political activities almost with childlike simplicity as when she was seen actively exhorting people to march in the Town Hall where Jinnah was leading a protest against the farewell party to Bombay governor, Willingdon.

But, Ruttie was also self-willed, unconventional in her dress and lavish in her tastes as a spoilt child of wealthy parents. Conscious of her beauty she bedecked herself in costly jewelry and expensive dress to enhance it further. As Lady Hardinge remarked, “Her attire was Liberty itself. … All the men raved about her; the women sniffed.

The post-nuptial euphoria could not sustain. Differences in temperament, tastes and age that lay hidden under love’s blinkers surfaced. Ruttie, -vivacious, blithe, romantic and in the full bloom of her youth, would desire something more out of her conjugal life, than attending political meetings. But, with his hectic life as a lawyer and political leader Jinnah had little time for pleasure or for literature and poetry for which Ruttie had a penchant. Indeed, her very last letter to him reads like a poem dripping with love and philosophy.

One year after their marriage Ruttie gave birth to their only daughter Dina and in 1928, barely ten years after their marriage, the knot that had been tied with such passion, snapped; Jinnah living at his Mount Pleasant home, Ruttie in the Taj Mahal Hotel. The former was too egotistic; the latter too proud. Each, therefore waited for the other to make the first move, but neither did. Nor would Jinnah allow any third party mediation.

Jinnah had a cold exterior. His emotions never showed. But his heart was warm and tender. When Ruttie was seriously ill in France, Jinnah stayed at her bedside and arranged to shift her to another hospital for better treatment. As her health improved Ruttie returned home. Three months later she was taken ill again. And on 20 February 1929, on her twenty-ninth birthday, the “flower” totally withered away.

For the author it must have been a very painstaking exercise to collect material on Ruttie, because both she and Jinnah were most secretive about their personal affairs. Jinnah was always a loner. But Ruttie, too, did not have any intimate friend to confide in. She did not keep a diary either. The immediate cause of their rift remains unknown. There is no firm information even about the nature of Ruttie’s ailment. In France, where Jinnah tended her, they again “quarreled.” So, she returned alone and continued to live separately. But the cause of the quarrel remains a mystery. And yet they remained in regular contact with Jinnah visiting her often. When she died, he broke down and sobbed “like a child.”

Perhaps things could have been different if Jinnah had made the first move after their break up and brought her home. She was eager to return if she were assured of welcome. In fact Jinnah owed it to her, because, she had sacrificed her all for him, whereas he had given nothing but exacted a price for his love, by demanding that she give up her religion.

The profusely annotated tragedy is a must read for its rare insight into the mindset of Mr. and Mrs. Ruttie Jinnah as well as a few lessons on the sidelines.

Title: Ruttie Jinnah
Author: Khawaja Razi Haider
Publisher: Oxford University Press, Pakistan (May 2010)
Pages: 192 pages, Hardback
Price: PKR 595
ISBN-10: 0195477049
ISBN-13: 9780195477047