. Two months later, on April 19, 1918, they were married at his house South Court in Bombay. The wedding ring which Jinnah gave Ruttie was a present from the Raja of Mahmudabad.

The Raja and a few close friends of Jinnah were the only guests at the wedding, and later the couple spent part of their honeymoon at the Mahmudabad palace in Nainital. The rest of their honeymoon was spent at the Maidens Hotel

Maidens Hotel, Delhi

The Maidens Hotel, Delhi, also Oberoi Maidens Hotel, and originally, Maiden's Metropolitan Hotel is a heritage hotel in the Civil Lines section of Delhi, India. Opened in 1903, it was one of the earliest modern hotels in Delhi, and situated in the Civil Lines, where all European style hotels were...

, a magnificent property just beyond the Red Fort.

Early years of marriage

Ruttie and Jinnah made a head-turning couple. She used to call her husband “J”. Her long hair would be decked in fresh flowers, and she wore vibrant silk and headbands lavish with diamonds, rubies and emeralds. And Jinnah in those days was the epitome of elegance in suits custom-made for him in London. According to most sources, the couple could not have been happier in those early years of their marriage. The only blot on their joy was Ruttie's ostracism from her family. Sir Dinshaw mourned Ruttie socially even after his granddaughter Dina

Dina Wadia

Dina Wadia is the daughter of Muhammad Ali Jinnah, the founding father of Pakistan, and Rattanbai Petit.-Early life:Dina was born in London shortly after midnight on the morning of August 15, 1919...

 was born.

The marriage problems

By mid-1922, Jinnah was facing political isolation as he devoted every spare moment to be the voice of moderation in a nation torn by Hindu-Muslim antipathy. The increasingly late hours and the ever-increasing distance between them left Ruttie isolated.

In September 1922, she packed her bags and took her daughter to London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

. The echoes of her loneliness are apparent in a letter which she sent to her friend Kanji, thanking him for the bouquet of roses he had sent as a bon voyage gift; It will always give me pleasure to hear from you, so if you have a superfluous moment on your hands you know where to find me if I don't lose myself. And just one thing more, go and see Jinnah and tell me how he is, he has a habit of overworking himself and now that I am not there to tease and bother him he will be worse than ever.

Upon her return to India, Ruttie tried to see more of her husband but he was too busy campaigning for elections as an independent for the general Bombay seats. Ruttie withdrew into a world of spirits, séance

Séance

A séance is an attempt to communicate with spirits. The word "séance" comes from the French word for "seat," "session" or "sitting," from the Old French "seoir," "to sit." In French, the word's meaning is quite general: one may, for example, speak of "une séance de cinéma"...

s and mysticism

Mysticism

Mysticism is the knowledge of, and especially the personal experience of, states of consciousness, i.e. levels of being, beyond normal human perception, including experience and even communion with a supreme being.-Classical origins:...

. Although she tried to interest Jinnah in the metaphysical, he had little time to devote to her.

In 1925, Jinnah was appointed to a subcommittee to study the possibility of establishing a military college like Sandhurst

Royal Military Academy Sandhurst

The Royal Military Academy Sandhurst , commonly known simply as Sandhurst, is a British Army officer initial training centre located in Sandhurst, Berkshire, England...

 in India

India

India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

. For this purpose he was to undertake a five-month tour of Europe and North America. Jinnah decided to take Ruttie with him - on what he hoped would be a second honeymoon. Instead the trip simply magnified the growing personal gulf between them.

By 1927, Ruttie and Jinnah had virtually separated, and the move of the Muslim League's office to Delhi was just the final blow to a relationship that was already disturbed.

Deteriorating health

Ruttie's health deteriorated rapidly in the years after they returned from their final trip together. But she kept her interest in her pets and her close friends. Even as a frail, weakened woman, Ruttie attempted to remain in touch with those around her, going so far as to travel in bedroom slippers even though her feet were swollen and painful. Later she decided to live alone.

Last days and tragic end

Ruttie lived at the Taj Hotel

Taj Mahal Palace & Tower

The Taj Mahal Palace & Tower is a five-star hotel located in the Colaba region of Mumbai, Maharashtra, India, next to the Gateway of India. Part of the Taj Hotels, Resorts and Palaces, this building is considered the flagship property of the group and contains 565 rooms...

 in Bombay, almost a recluse as she became more and more bed-ridden. Kanji continued to be her constant companion. By February 18, 1929 she had become so weak that all she could manage to say to him was a request to look after her cats. Two days later, Ruttie Petit Jinnah died. It was her 29th birthday. She was buried on February 22 in Khoja Shia Isna'Ashari Cemetery, Mazgaon, Bombay according to Muslim rites. Jinnah sat like a statue throughout the funeral but when asked to throw earth on the grave, he broke down and wept. Later, Chagla said in his book ‘Roses in December‘,

Jinnah sat like a statue throughout the funeral but when asked to throw earth on the grave, he broke down and wept. That was the only time when I found Jinnah betraying some shadow of human weakness. It's not a well publicised fact that as a young student in England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 it had been one of Jinnah's dreams to play Romeo

Romeo Montague

Romeo is one of the fictional protagonists in Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. Romeo is the son of old Montague and his wife, who secretly loves and marries Juliet, a member of the rival House of Capulet...

 at The Globe. It is a strange twist of fate that a love story that started like a fairy tale ended as a haunting tragedy to rival any of Shakespeare's dramas.

Jinnah missed her absence in future a lot, G Allana's "Quaid-i-Azam Jinnah: The Story of a Nation" based on the narrative of a chauffeur of Mr Jinnah write "You know servants in household come to know everything that is going around them. Sometimes more than twelve years after Begum Jinnah's (Mrs. Jinnah) death, the boss would order at dead of night a huge ancient wooden chest to be opened, in which were stored clothes of his dead wife and his married daughter. He would intently look into those clothes, as they were taken out of box and were spread on the carpets. He would gaze at them for long with eloquent silence. Then his eys turn moisten.."

Romance and legacy

Although not much is known about Jinnah’s personal life, when he was a law student in London, he regularly participated in theatre and seriously considered acting as a profession. Ruttie was considered to be the most beautiful girl of Bombay. Jinnah's marriage with the most beautiful girl of Bombay – Ruttie: The Flower of Bombay – is considered like a fairy tale. She was quite lost in his love but was facing the agony of Jinnah's busy life but still till end she cared about him a lot , Ruttie's love for Jinnah can also be elaborated by reading some extracts of her last letter to him "...When one has been as near to the reality of Life (which after all is Death) as I have been dearest, one only remembers the beautiful and tender moments and all the rest becomes a half veiled mist of unrealities. Try and remember me beloved as the flower you plucked and not the flower you tread upon." ... ".. Darling I love you – I love you – and had I loved you just a little less I might have remained with you – only after one has created a very beautiful blossom one does not drag it through the mire. The higher you set your ideal the lower it falls. I have loved you my darling as it is given to few men to be loved. I only beseech you that the tragedy which commenced in love should also end with it...".

Jinnah is believed to be a very private person and he hardly showed emotions but he is known to have cried twice in public. One of the occasions was the funeral of his beloved wife Ruttie in 1929 and the other one in August 1947, when he visited her grave one last time before leaving for Pakistan. Jinnah left India in August 1947, never to return again, but he left behind a piece of his heart in a little grave in a cemetery in Bombay.

Prof. Akbar Ahmed’s movie Jinnah (film)

Jinnah (film)

- Awards :Jinnah received the Silver Remi Award at the WorldFest-Houston International Film Festival in 1999.- Reviews :* * * * * - External links :* *...

tried, to some extent, throw some light on Jinnah’s personal life but 15–20 minutes is nowhere near enough. Despite Jinnah's unfaltering dedication and love for Ruttie, the marriage was not a bed of roses. Perhaps his professional responsibilities and political commitments did not afford him enough time to spend with his beloved wife and this was much for her to bear. Her youthful heart bled with loneliness until she died of a consuming illness, still young and charming.

Bibliographic references

• Chagla, M. C. Individual and the State, Asia Publishing House, 1961
• Wolpert, Stanley Jinnah of Pakistan, Oxford University Press, 1984, ISBN 0-614-21694-X