Mr. and Mrs. Jinnah: The Marriage that Shook India

by Sheela Reddy

Mohammad Ali Jinnah was forty years old, a successful barrister and a rising star in the nationalist movement when he fell in love with pretty, vivacious Ruttie Petit, the daughter of his good friend, the fabulously rich baronet, Sir Dinshaw Petit, a prominent Parsi mill owner. But Ruttie was just sixteen and her outraged father forbade the match. But when Ruttie turned eighteen, they married and Bombay society, its riches and sophistication notwithstanding, was scandalized. Everyone sided with the Petits and Ruttie and Jinnah were ostracized.

It was an unlikely union that few thought would last. But Jinnah, in his undemonstrative, reserved way was unmistakably devoted to his beautiful, wayward child-bride—as proud of her fashionable dressing as he was of her intelligence, her wide reading and her fierce commitment to the nationalist struggle. Ruttie, on her part, worshipped him and could tease and cajole the famously unbending Jinnah, whom so many people found intimidating and distant. But as the tumultuous political events increasingly absorbed him, Ruttie felt isolated and alone, cut off from her family, friends and community. The unremitting effort of submitting her personality to Jinnah’s, his frequent coldness, his preoccupation with politics and the law, took its toll. Ruttie died at twenty-nine, leaving her daughter, Dina and her inconsolable husband, who never married again.

Sheela Reddy, well-known journalist and former books editor of Outlook magazine, uses never-before-seen personal letters of Ruttie and her close friends as well as accounts left by contemporaries and friends to portray this marriage that convulsed Indian society, with a sympathetic, discerning eye. A product of intensive and meticulous research in Delhi, Bombay and Karachi and based on first-person accounts and sources, Reddy brings the solitary, misunderstood Jinnah and the lonely, wistful Ruttie to life. A must-read for all those interested in politics, history and the power of an unforgettable love story.

Genres: Nonfiction, History, India, Pakistan, Biography, Politics

421 pages, Hardcover

Published January 1, 2017

About the author

Sheela Reddy has written extensively for leading Indian newspapers and journals during her over 35 years in journalism.

Reviews

[Mubeen Irfan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Even though I am a history buff, I am generally not too inclined to read history of South Asia particularly Indo-Pakistan. This is partially my stubbornness to indulge in anything related to partriotism. However, this book is currently much talked about therefore I picked it up half hoping it won't be too political for me to lose interest.

Mr. & Mrs. Jinnah is a marriage gone bad story. Had it been a novel, I am sure people would have liked its twistedness more than Fates & Furies (which I will maintain is not an extraordinary book). Ruttie's marriage to Jinnah was much talked about due to the age, religion & status differences. But then they split after a decade and she died soon after, at a very young age of 29. The writer has drawn extensive material from different letters Ruttie wrote to an influential Hindu political family (mother & her daughters) she knew and letters between them discussing Ruttie & her state throughout her marriage. It was a marriage that went horribly wrong eventually pushing Ruttie to drug herself to death. Jinnah later admitted that he should not have married her, not because he didn't love her but because she was a child when they married and was not able to understand him and his political pursuits.

There are many such events in the book which will make you hate Jinnah's attitude towards her but then we should remember that Jinnah probably didn't feel himself to be a normal person indulging in trivial pursuits of life. He probably (rightly) felt he has great potential and marital issues & relationships should not hold him back. Overall it's a tragic love story and a depressing read but very well written and thus recommended.

[Vikas Singh · Rating 5 out of 5]

The book is an eye opener in many sense. It gives a very different perspective of Jinnah's life. For me it was surprising to read his statement that he was political leader of the muslims and not their religious leader. The book offers a fascinating account of how he fought for Hindu-Muslim unity and was later disillusioned by Congress. His deep resentment of Gandhi and death of his young wife were instrumental in his turning communal in later part of his life. Well researched Sheela takes on a brave topic on a man who is despised by many in india and comes out with a great piece of historical work.

[Dhanya Narayanan · Rating 3 out of 5]

It is with immense effort that I completed reading this book titled Mr and Mrs Jinnah by Sheela Reddy, classified as non fiction. Little did I realise that I had so much of perseverance until I reached the last page of this book. I started reading this book hoping to get a realistic idea about the personal and political life of Mohammed Ali Jinnah. All I could understand after reading this book of 421 pages is that Jinnah was ‘tall and thin with chiselled features’ and wore clothes stitched from Paris and his wife who was years younger to him was ‘dainty, warm and spontaneous’!(This same description of the two individuals was repeated many times in this book) Somehow I could sympathise with neither young Ruttie nor old Jinnah.

Sheela Reddy is a journalist by profession and has somehow distorted many facts and added her own imagination to fill the gaps in the facts. Her repetitive narration is boring and painful. How many times do you need to describe the coat and tie that Jinnah wears? How many accounts of Mrs Jinnah wearing transparent saree with sleeveless blouse is needed to convince the readers? The author has assumed her own reasons for the behaviour of Ruttie or Jinnah in many instances. This sort of speculation which is practised by media personnel does no good to a narration which is supposed to be based on historical facts. The whole book, as the author claims is based on letters sent by Sarojini Naidu and her daughters. It would have been a much more satisfying experience to have those letters published as such, rather than this book where the author’s understanding of those letters are penned.
On page 193, it goes like this; ” For Ruttie, his long interview splashed in the newspaper the following Monday might have appeared embarrassingly like self promotion.” Why should the author assume what Ruttie thought? This is supposedly a book based on facts and not speculations. Another example is “Jinnah’s expressions must have shamed her into stopping” . There is no supporting evidence to many of the instances mentioned in this book,other than the ones the author has presumed from the letters that has been sent or received by Ruttie or somebody else.

This book failed to evoke any sense of empathy towards Ruttie or Jinnah. Had it been a fictional work, it would have been justified to include so many ‘must haves’ and ‘might haves’ . For a story which could be told in less than 100 pages, the author has miserably taken more than four hundred! It is a waste of time and money to read this book trying to get a glimpse of Indian history and life of Mr and Mrs Jinnah.

[Anita Nandini · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book draws on the marital life of Mohammed Ali Jinnah and Maryam Jinnah ( born Ruttiebhai Petit), the scandal of their marriage, their life together afterwards till Ruttie’s death.
There are three stories in the book actually. One of their marriage, and another of Jinnah’s political journey ( goes without saying it covers a lot of the freedom struggle, Gandhi, Muslim League etc), and third covers the unique relationship between Sarojini Naidu & Ruttie.
Ruttie belongs to a family of Parsi Baronets ( she is also related to the Tata’s and is practically Parsi Royalty) and Jinnah’s family were originally Hindus from Kathiawar. His grandfather was a trader in fish and was ostracised by their community. His father ( Jinnah’s) thus converted his entire family to Muslims.
Its ironic that the father of Pakistan seemed in no way really keen for a separate nation( in this book at least). Nor was he an avid follower of the faith ( he smoke ,drank and ate pork). Neither was he militant nor unreasonable. He was a fastidious man who went to England to study and modelled himself on the ideal of an English Statesman both sartorially and attitudinally. Not sentimental , a work horse and one who dint believe in "Holidays" and relaxation. He loved to pontificate and hold forth about politics in private durbars.
Ruttie on the other hand was bought up in the lap of luxury. As was wont of those times ( in rich households), she was raised by an army of nannies and governesses, and was spoiled for creature comforts. Her parents kept a keen eye on her, her three brothers and their health & progress. They were hosts par excellence and their parties ( the house even) was stuff of legends. Not to mention, the women in their house were very progressive and had given up Purdah a long while ago.
Jinnah was Ruttie’s fathers age or older and it came as a big shock to the Baronet when Jinnah asked for Ruttie’s hand. Their marriage created a big uproar, and both of them were shunned by the entire Parsi community and the Muslim community. The Parsi Panchayat went as far to say their women need to go back to Purdah and need to be curtailed. Ruttie’s family had to expressly disown her in order not to be treated like pariah themselves. All the Maulanas and Maulvis were aghast at Jinnah’s choice. Ruttie’s provocative clothing choices added fuel to the fire. Even within his own household, his single sister ( Fatima Jinnah) was not for this alliance and resented being shunted off to her older sisters residence to make way for the new bride.
Their second shunning came when Jinnah criticised Gandhi openly. Jinnah as a political figure seemed to always be against the tide and believed in fighting through the courts, through debate and carefully structured arguments. He viewed Gandhi ( and so did many others) as an eccentric with hair brained schemes and solutions. He was in the forefront of politics and was tipped to be one of the leaders of free India.
The two characters are ( husband and wife) are diametrically opposite in temperament , approaches, social preferences and even food. The marriage was doomed from the beginning as Jinnah is a man with a cold facade who believed revealing emotions spelled weakness in character and Ruttie was madly in love and was heavily influenced by all the romantic poets and literature she read. Having lead a protected life , she imagines the life they would lead full of adventure, exploration, and romance.
The authour clearly projects Jinnah to be one blind to his wives feelings and hardships( she recurrently falls ill in her later life). She also hints that her illness was a result of her depression more than any real ailment. Growing up she was used to much socialising and having people around always. Her marriage led her to lose all her Parsi friends, his political choices further narrowed their social life. Finally her own recklessness and need for attention made her dress tantalisingly ( putting it mildly :)), chain smoke, experiment with drugs. It is hinted in the book that she attempted suicide several times. She had no one to share her anguish with on the "marriage ice" ( her term) that she had to endure for years.
Ruttie for her part is disillusioned but tries very hard to be his support system. She curates every thing from his clothes, his house and even his meals. They have a child( Dina Jinnah) and tragically Ruttie mirrors his coldness to her , with the child. Sheela Reddy almost goes to say that the child was entirely raised by a battery of support staff. It baffles one to think that the child was not named till she was nine years of age!!!! This was not just Ruttie’s attitude, but Jinnah’s as well.
On the other hand, there is an intense graph that projects Ruttie’s dependency on Sarojini and her family. She is shown to be hyper attached to her pets and Sarojini. She even spurns her moms offer for help and decides to make demands on Sarojini instead ( who is torn in all directions on account of her political and personal commitments). She alternately vexes Sarojini in her latter years and makes her anxious with her bouts of ill health, fading vivaciousness and even her will to live. Sarojini treats her on par with her own children. She is known to have been close to both Jinnah and Ruttie. But she does not try to meddle with their relationship.
Somehow the authour has stayed completely away from the formation of Pakistan and Jinnah’s role in it, while consistently giving hints to its build up. Jinnah was a formidable man , who for the better part of his political career seemed to be playing the one step forward, two steps back ward game. As a professional though he achieved great success and earned enough wealth to bankroll Ruttie and even quit his career at will. He seems to be someone whose motivation and drive superseded normal drives and this burning need to be a national leader, led him to neglect his wife, child, sister and householder duties. In a bittersweet letter after she leaves him , Ruttie does inform him that she was unhappy in the marriage in her poetic way ( “Try and remember me beloved as the flower you plucked and not the flower you tread upon”.)He seemed to have paid a heavy price for it and suffered regrets on that account.
It was enlightening read( and wee tedious or even frivolous at times). Story goes now that Dina Wadia ( true to her blood she chose to defy her father and a marry a Parsi ) is demanding that her fathers house in Mumbai be handed over to her and not be considered an evacuee house.
Deliciously Ironic Excerpt from Roses in December (Mahommedali Currim Chagla, who was Jinnah’s assistant at the time)
“Jinnah asked Dina ‘there are millions of Muslim boys in India, is he the only one you were waiting for?’ and Dina replied, ‘there were millions of Muslim girls in India, why did you marry my mother then?’”

[Mohsina Asif · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Try and remember me beloved as the flower you plucked and not the flower you tread upon."
A nationalist or not, I would recommend this book to everyone particularly belonging to the subcontinent. This book has touched upon what I believe is one of the most tragic love stories of all time. A tale about how, so often passion brings with itself a harrowing isolation, about how while everybody was so immersed in vigorous political struggles a flower which had once bloomed to the epitome of charm, wilted.
It is a story of two utterly desolate people, both equally incapable of being effusive to one another, yet so terribly in love with each other. As Ruttie said:
"and had I loved you just a little less I might have remained with you"

This book has dared to break through the walls of bias and false representations of Jinnah, his personal life, and his political aspirations and struggles. Perhaps, it is the identity of the author as an Indian which precluded this book from betraying facts such as the despise Jinnah held for all sorts of religious orthodoxy and the shortcomings he might have possessed.


The book is surprisingly easy and light, making it readable for even the otherwise avid fiction readers. History has never been served sweeter!

[Marwa Shafique · Rating 5 out of 5]

"When you are given a flower you do not think of the thorn. You revel in its beauty and feast in its fragrance. So is the friendship I have offered you like a rose and you must not only think of the thorn - the imaginary thorn in this case!"

This book deserves all the praise in the world. Never before have I been at a loss of words, never before has a biographical book left me in a state of inner turmoil - as I continue to ponder upon the harsh realities of life and how nothing is as it seems.

Mr. and Mrs. Jinnah tells you a story about two people who, to the general public, are worlds apart - but are similar in mindset, ideologies and beliefs. And yet, they come together - in ways no one can truly understand. Led by fierce devotion and passion for each other, they marry - only for everything to come crashing down as they discover truths they had been completely blind to before.

I was completely invested in their story from the very start and the final chapter absolutely broke my heart into tiny pieces - but alas, that's just the way life is, really. All in all, I loved this book and the way it was written, and I am glad I took the opportunity to read it.

[Najia · Rating 4 out of 5]

“... he belonged to a generation of Indian men who regarded falling in love as a weakness.”

My first attempt to read this book failed miserably. Even after reading for weeks, i could only drag myself till two hundred pages. It was a slow starter for me. In the first few chapters, the writer started with establishing the background before coming to the point about Ruttie and Jinnah relationship, which was an important aspect to clear the understanding for those who aren’t aware of the general customs of the subcontinent. However, for me it was a turn off.

But what made me give up on the book wasn’t its writing, rather Jinnah’s treatment of his wife. It made me so angry with this man who is commonly known as a great statesman, an intelligent and witty person., and has a special place in my heart, for being a Pakistani, that I couldn’t continue.

However, the second attempt to read the book was far more successful and I succeeded in finishing last 6 chapters in just two days.

“... had i loved you just a little less, I would have remained with you.”

The love story of a teenage girl who married a man almost twice her age, because she loved him with all her might. The heart wrenching tale of two people who couldn’t have been more different from each other. Ruttie was not merely an exquisite beauty; she was smart, witty, and full of life. But the life was sucked out of her by and by, thanks to the aloofness of one man whose attention she desired most.

Although he loved her dearly, Jinnah was not the man who would show his emotions and weaknesses. He was not the husband material, who would have known how to keep his woman happy, in spite of loving her with all his heart! His workaholic nature kept him away from his wife. And by the time he realised what that has taken away from him, it was too late. Jinnah did mellow down a little after Ruttie’s death, that had taken a heavy toll on his health too. However, it was a too little too late.

Ruttie’s life was a tragedy. Imagine being so full of life, yet living with a man who only knew and understood one thing in life: ambition!!!

If you had asked me 3 days ago, i would never have said this but, highly recommended. Do read to understand the private side of the man, who is considered the father of nation in Pakistan!!

[K · Rating 5 out of 5]

I will give all 5 stars to this read. You’ll get to know what a man Mr Jinnah was and not what is projected to us.

[Faiza Sattar · Rating 4 out of 5]

★★★★☆ (4/5)
A selection of my favourite passages from the book

• After keeping the world guessing for two years, on a hot April evening in the year 1918, Mohammed Ali Jinnah married Ruttie Petit, the only daughter of a rich Parsi baronet.
• The baronet was regarded by most lawyers as a walking goldmine for briefs because of his habit of taking all his disputes, no matter how trivial, to court, never counting the costs in legal fee.
• It was a dynamic, modern city, proud of its sons like Jinnah. He had come to the city penniless from Karachi, the eldest of seven children of a failed businessman of the Khoja Muslim community, and within the span of two decades, had clawed himself upwards as one of Bombay’s best-known and wealthiest lawyers. A star politician, he was known for his luxury cars and fashionable clothes, able to hold his own with the best in the court as well as in the Imperial Legislative Council, where he was about to be re-elected for his third term.
• ‘Never was there a nature whose outer qualities provided so complete an antithesis of its inner worth,’ was how Sarojini felt about Jinnah, drawing an unusual portrait of him
• ‘Tall and stately, but thin to the point of emaciation, languid and luxurious of habit, Mohamed Ali Jinnah’s attenuated form is the deceptive sheath of a spirit of exceptional vitality and endurance. Somewhat formal and fastidious, and a little aloof and imperious of manner, the calm hauteur of his accustomed reserve but masks, for those who know him, a naïve and eager humanity, an intuition quick and tender as a woman’s, a humour gay and winning as a child’s. Pre-eminently rational and practical, discreet and dispassionate in his estimate and acceptance of life, the obvious sanity and serenity of his worldly wisdom effectually disguise a shy and splendid idealism which is the very essence of the man.’
• Jinnah had always been attracted to young persons who stood up to him, and in Ruttie he found a fierce sense of independence matching his own and a charming irreverence all her own, able to take on princes and viceroys as her equals.
• ‘Mahabaleshwar is very beautiful all green and fresh and young!’ she writes in her letter. ‘But I have seen no fireflies as yet. All nature seems to be astir with song birds and little insects and often while you are feasting your soul on the exquisite and fierce grandeur of the ghats, the mist will rapidly and almost suddenly veil the scenery as though it were jealous.
• And when their mother died, leaving Hamabai an orphan at the age of twenty-four, there was nothing to stop the adventurous young woman from following her inclinations. She travelled widely—‘toured the world and visited its remotest parts’, as a Parsi who’s who put it. She went skiing on the Swiss Alps, owned a collection of pedigreed dogs that she adored, owned race horses which regularly won prizes and was one of the first ladies in India to own and drive a motor car.
• But under it all, was there perhaps a wistful longing for something she had yet to find? Why was it about her giving all the time, what about receiving? But she will not allow the thought to grow; she is in a hurry:
• But it wasn’t easy to keep vigil on the daughters of Anand Bhavan. It was a chaotic household, divided both socially and physically into Indian and Western halves, with trays of food going up to the rooms at odd hours and the family assembling together only at dinner time.
• Fearing perhaps that they could never win her father’s approval for the match if Syud went to him directly with a proposal, they decided to present him with a fait accompli. By the time Motilal discovered what was going on under his own roof—or more likely, was informed by the lovers—they had already got secretly married, but ‘in an informal way’, as Syud later confessed to his good friend and only sympathizer, Sarojini Naidu.
• Single Muslim women who were educated and out of purdah found it extremely difficult to find suitable partners from their own community. One reason was that there were simply not enough educated Muslim men to go around, and of them, quite a few returned from their studies abroad with foreign wives. It was the done thing for both Hindu and Muslim students, as Wal explains: ‘Quite a number had European wives and families. Young boys who went abroad were expected to bring back English wives.’ Quite apart from the prestige of having a European wife, even if it was only their former landlady’s daughter, opened doors for career advancement as well as to the Europeans-only clubs.
• Considered from any angle, Sir Dinshaw’s next step made no sense. Six months after Ruttie returned from Lucknow, he abruptly switched his strategy to deal with his daughter’s unsuitable attachment. Suddenly one day, somewhere towards the end of June 1917, without even consulting Lady Petit, he went to court seeking an injunction against Jinnah.
• At sixteen or seventeen, while he was studying Cicero’s classic collection of letters in London as a means of educating himself into the man he wanted to become, Jinnah found the following sentences significant enough to underline heavily with a lead pencil: ‘Whenever you design to break off any friendship or displeasing acquaintance, you should loosen the knot little and little, and not try to cut it asunder all at once.’
• Whether he believed her or not, Jinnah’s devotion to his simple, illiterate mother was deep enough for him to sacrifice his stubborn sense of independence, going silently along with whatever she wished to do on his behalf.
• He trudged daily through the damp, chilly London streets to his office, struggling with the cold strangeness of it all. By the time he got through the first few months, the silent stoicism he began to cultivate was on its way to becoming a lifelong habit. And except perhaps for his lasting horror of the London fog, which always reminded him of what he had undergone in those first few months, he was able to shrug off the pain and any trauma he might have felt, as if it were no more than the homesickness of the average boarding school boy.
• ‘It is fitting that all men who are eager to excel [over] the rest of living creatures should strive with the utmost energy not to pass through life in obscurity, like cattle, whom nature has made stooping and slaves to the belly.’
• ‘My inquiries and discussions made me decide for another Inn than Lincoln’s,’ Jinnah told Fatima. ‘But then I saw the name of our great Prophet engraved on the main entrance of Lincoln’s Inn among the greatest law-givers of the world.’ So he did something that his mother would have done—and did, in fact, when he was an infant. He took a mannat, or a silent vow, to join Lincoln’s Inn if he passed the ‘Little Go’ exam.
• And he insisted on doing it his way—fiercely refusing to beg for patronage, even when he had no work. He was a figure hard to overlook, even when he was starting out: a stylish, handsome young barrister who strode arrogantly down the corridors of courtrooms without talking to anyone, returning to his cheap hotel room every evening without a rupee in his pocket. Curiously, that attitude of arrogance, so far exclusively a British trait, won him several admirers, especially among the British.
• He, universally admired but liked by very few; politics his only and ruling passion; and she, with her spirit of freedom and passion, yearning for she knew not what.
• He too was in love for the first time in his life, and almost despite himself. But he had no time for sentiment, and even less patience with anything he considered woolly-headed. With him, one had to be always brief and clear. Perhaps he too didn’t want to look too deep, and once he was assured of her adoration, and more importantly, her loyalty, he threw himself into his political activity with more energy and passion than ever.
• And the real struggle in her mind was not with the sacrifices involved in renouncing the old life, with its wealth and luxury and the security that her parents provided; it was whether, when it came to the test, she might fail to break free of her shackles.
• ‘Once he decided on a course of action, no persuasion would detract him from that course.
• And they both were at their best at these small gatherings—she, because she never felt so cherished by him than when he included her in his political plans, listening to her in all seriousness and good-humouredly taking the way she teased and pulled his leg in front of their guests. It gave her a secret sense of her own power over him, able to say aloud to him all the irreverent things that no one had dared to say to him before. The young men certainly were awestruck by the liberties she took with the great man famed for his haughtiness and reserve. And Jinnah too blossomed under her adoring attention, with his conversations at the dinner table becoming a virtuoso performance.
• She had taken to dropping in at his chambers every evening so that they could drive back home together. It was a harmless thing as far as she and even Jinnah were concerned. Everyone in England was doing it—in fact, after motor cars had taken over from carriages, the women drove themselves, ‘returning triumphantly with their husbands by their sides’, as the newspapers put it. Ruttie had not learnt to drive, but it was just as much fun to go to Jinnah’s office in their chauffeur-driven car and come back with him, sitting side by side on the back seat with the top pulled down. It was the one thing Jinnah didn’t baulk at, not letting his ever-present rationality get in the way. He didn’t see the harm in it, and in fact prided himself on taking her everywhere with him.
• Her job, she decided, was to be a prop for him during his public appearances, sitting mutely by his side on the dais. And with a docility that would have shocked her father, she easily fell into her role, taking care to curb her natural instincts.
• Even less to wonder what Ruttie felt about having a baby abroad with no support except what his money could buy. Ruttie herself felt as if she had exchanged one place of solitary confinement for another. England, especially after the War, was ‘no place for anyone without a definite purpose’, as Sarojini put it.
• Could it be perhaps her resentment, hidden so far under her guise of careless insouciance, but chafing nevertheless at this ‘slavery’, as she later put it—this double bondage of wife and mother that she had not bargained for in her passionate eagerness for life, not yet daring to spill out into open rebellion, but still unable to resist her heart’s stifled cry of ‘Let me be free. Let me be free’?
• To Jinnah, he remained something of an enigma. He could not tell if this former barrister was an astute Hindu politician or a genuine social reformer with no interest or talent for politics. On the one hand, Gandhi made a show of being disinclined to join politics, and on the other, he deftly turned any social reform programme he led into a high-voltage political drama that got him maximum publicity. As an experienced lawyer, Jinnah could hardly take Gandhi at face value.
• Again he was drowned out by the crowd. Three times he tried to speak, pitting his indomitable will against ‘that vast ocean of humanity’ ranged against him, refusing to retreat, until they had to let him speak.
• ‘Plutantophoric’, incidentally, is Padmaja’s invented word, a spontaneous creation she came up with by ingeniously welding ‘plutocrat’ to ‘philanthropic’—a combination word that oddly enough best describes Ruttie’s whole attitude to wealth, or rather, her sudden lack of it, that is, if only she could somehow become rich enough to support Jinnah rather than be dependent on him and suffer his disapproval, voiced or unvoiced, on her excessive spending.
• They were both, in their own ways, lovers of drama, and if he liked to play the ageing Victorian gentleman with his old-world quaintness and his paternal ‘my boy’ and ‘young man’, she too relished her new persona as chic, young, eccentric, gay and frivolous as the fashion demanded.
• It was true that other English-educated young Indians of her generation were finding themselves similarly adrift in a confusing new post-War world, severed with a brutal suddenness from their own past and unsure of how much of it to retrieve from the debris.
• The tragedy of womanhood is not that her freedom is too much, but too little and her experiences too few.
• Misunderstandings when they cannot be unravelled, should be left alone for time and loyalty to diminish.
• But as with politics, she was more interested in people than their ideas and philosophy.
• At first, the relief was enormous. To think that it had cost her so much agony and anguish over so many years when it had been so simple all along—just shift into the room next to Sarojini’s in the Taj and no one any the wiser for weeks to come. It was strange, as Sarojini observed, ‘how few people have even an inkling of what has happened in the very heart of Bombay. Fortunately, everyone is used to seeing her here at all hours that no one suspects her being here with her cats and he at home alone.’
• As she tried to explain in a letter she wrote to him as soon as she boarded her ship to Bombay, ‘had I loved you just a little less, I might have remained with you’.
• On the following evening, 20 February 1929—her twenty-ninth birthday—she passed away.
• ‘Try and remember me beloved as the flower you plucked and not the flower you tread on.’
• How did he ‘tread upon’ this Flower he had plucked, just as she had accused him of? How much of it was to be blamed on his own harsh intransigence, chipping away at her self-worth and pushing her further down the spiral of her dreadful disease of despair and anguish? Or was that only one small part of the inexorable train of circumstances?
• At such times, the only thing that gave him some relief, according to the driver, was to ‘ask for a certain metallic chest to be brought to his room and unlocked’. It was full of Ruttie’s clothes. ‘The clothes would be taken out and sahib would gaze at them without saying a word. His gaunt, transparent face would become clouded. “It’s all right, it’s all right,” he would say, then remove his monocle, wipe it and walk away.’

[Tanya Sen · Rating 4 out of 5]

A nuanced study of two fascinating characters - the beautiful, vivacious, poetic, romantic Ruttie Petit and the ambitious, impossibly intense and hardworking Mohammed Ali Jinnah, 24 years her senior. Through reams and reams of correspondence, memoirs of their friends and associates, even scribblings in the margins of favourite books on their bookshelves, Sheila Reddy pieces together for us the story of the strange relationship of Mr and Mrs Jinnah - a love that was deep, pure and yet completely toxic simply because they were so different.

The backdrop of course is a rich portrait of communities grappling with the “teething pains” of modernisation and change - of women coming out of purdah and embracing education (and thus finding themselves often unmarriageable), of politicians loudly encouraging interfaith marriages (and then finding themselves horrified when their own daughters showed up with suitors of a different faith), of the building tension between the Indians that supported the British Raj and those that detested it.

If (like me) you didn’t know much about Jinnah before other than the fact that he (depending on which side of the fence you’re looking at it from) single-handedly ruptured India / created Pakistan....a fascinating window into his youth and to the experiences and people that shaped him.

The one thing I didn’t understand was why there was so much repetition of little details - almost as though the author was afraid you would get amnesia after reading each chapter and would need to be reminded of things again....but then again maybe she didn’t expect that we would remain so transfixed that we would finish the book in four sittings.

[Vishnu Kamath · Rating 5 out of 5]

A Marriage Made in Hell?
India is even today, a poor country with a per capita income which falls in the lower half among the comity of nations. In the first decades of the last century, it was not only poorer, but was also ravaged by the inequities of colonial rule, disease (remember the 1918 flu pandemic), religious tensions, the fall out of the first world war, not to speak of the political unrest arising out of an increasingly belligerent freedom struggle. Even in such times, a small fraction of the population, rich Parsis among them, lived a life of fabulous wealth, owning luxurious properties in London and the French Riviera, travelling the world often with their pets, pet attendants, nurses and ayahs, and living both within India and outside in famous, expensive hotels.

Ruttie Petit (later Jinnah) belonged to such a family. The Petits owned several textile mills. M. A. Jinnah, the son of a bankrupt small time business man, rose to fabulous wealth, as a ‘Rolls Royce lawyer’ (his words) by combining his knowledge of law, with the timing of an actor (Gandhi, Rajmohan in Understanding the Muslim Mind) in the Bombay High Court. These were altogether different times when girls matured early, and could write letters about unrequited love when barely into their teens. Under such circumstances, it was not unnatural, though it was unusual, for a nearly forty year old Jinnah to fall in love with 14 year old Ruttie Petit. That he was a Muslim, and Ruttie a Parsi complicated life, and their marriage led to Ruttie’s excommunication from Parsi society.

This book, a conjoined biography of M.A. and Ruttie Jinnah provides the intimate details of their life together. The author has accessed a goldmine of correspondence carried on by Sarojini Naidu with her children (mainly her daughters, Padmaja and Leilamani), and Ruttie. There is enough in this book to give us a glimpse into the life of Sarojini. We have heard of Sarojini as the poet, the ‘nightingale of India’, though the naturalist M. Krishnan has a dim view of her poems (Guha, Ramachandra Ed., Nature’s Spokesman M. Krishnan and Indian Wildlife). What this book reveals is the wealthy life Sarojini led, living permanently at the Taj in Bombay on a monthly rent basis, entertaining lavishly, travelling world over (and within India) first class, and all this with funds provided by her husband, who we are told ran ‘a household of modest means’ (page 286). This ‘modest household’ could fund the expense of one daughter’s education at Oxford, one son and one daughter’s addiction to drinks, and another son’s medical education in Berlin, where he checks himself into a sanatorium to undergo therapy at a ‘nerve clinic’! It was in such company in both India and Paris, that Ruttie, ignored by her ageing, grim, and humourless husband, alienated from her family, ‘found her feet among the idle rich set’ with ‘funds Jinnah uncomplainingly provided’ (author’s words).

However, to be fair to Ruttie, what were her options in life? She is portrayed as an intelligent, politically aware girl, who read voraciously, wrote well and aspired to be a published poet. But these were not times for a woman of intelligence- as most professions were barred for women, if not legally, at least culturally. She could have chosen to marry a rich conservative Parsi, and lived an idle life of partying, shopping, holidaying, and socializing, spending her husband’s money (like her mother, Lady petit did) with no connect to the outside world, which was in constant churn. Alternatively, she could marry Jinnah, and be close to the very man who was causing the churn. She chose the latter option. But alienation in her marriage set in soon enough, as Jinnah turned increasingly to Muslim politics, and his conservative followers, bearded Mullahs among them, would yield no place for a woman in their midst, specially one who dressed in transparent diaphanous sarees with sleeveless blouses to top it all. This drove her to a ‘deracinated’ life of partying, shopping, holidaying, and socializing, spending her husband’s money with no connect to the outside world. She really had no choice like the poet in O. Henry’s “Roads of Destiny”. Therein lay her tragedy. Ultimately she takes her own life, although her death is not recorded as such.

There is one question about Jinnah that has occupied the mindspace of this Reviewer. How much was he influenced by Nazi politics? His call for a ‘homeland for Muslims’ resonates so closely to the Nazi call for ‘lebensraum’ (literally living space) for Germans, which meant the expulsion of Jews, Gypsies, and the Slavic people from what Nazis considered their homeland. What the Nazis achieved partially before their obliteration, Jinnah (and his political progeny) achieved fully when they drove out Hindus and Sikhs from what they considered their Holy land (today’s pariah, Pakistan). However this question is perhaps beyond the scope of the present book which concludes with Ruttie’s death in 1928.

In short, this is an interesting book.
There is an interesting tidbit in this book about Motilal's daughter (later Vijayalakshmi Pandit). This young lady supposedly fell in love with a young Muslim journalist. Motilal the doyen of modernism in his heyday, panicked, and immediately sent his daughter to Mohandass' (later Mahatma Gandhi) ashram, and latter, the greatest proponent, of Hindu-Muslim unity was horrified at the prospect of such a union and advised the young lady to treat her paramour as a brother and practice celibacy (preferably for the rest of her life). Fortunately for the young lady, she was only amused about the bizarre goings-on in the Ashram. However the combined might of Motilal and the future Mahatma made her give up her first love and she later married a Maharashtrian brahmin, by whose surname we now know her. The contemporary proponents of the theory of love-jihad will be happy to know that they have such eminent forbearers.

[Sadiq Kazi · Rating 5 out of 5]

There is still we do not know about the enigma that Jinnah was. This book makes an attempt to make the reader curious about the epic question : WHAT IF? What if, Ms. Ruttie had lived to old age? Would that have changed the course of history? Were the seeds of tragic partition of the country sown after her death?
The book scores in giving a human face to an enigma, although falls a little short on answering some of the above questions. But then, if someone could unravel M.A. Jinnah, would he still be M.A. Jinnah?

[Akriti · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the best books I've ever read! The author's great narration of historical facts, coupled with her evidently thorough research, transported me to pre independence Bombay, and the rich and tragic lives of Mr and Mrs Jinnah. A must read!

[Divakar · Rating 4 out of 5]

A lot of us are familiar with Sheela Reddy. She is a prolific journalist and a political commentator and in her last avatar was the books editor of Outlook magazine. She was always known for her racy style of writing and also her meticulous research..

In India, one feels sorry for the amount of negative press that Mohammad Ali Jinnah, the founder of modern day Pakistan gets. The pipe smoking, Saville Row suited booted lawyer whom we are always reminded that he ate pork and enjoyed his scotch ( both not so kosher things to do for someone bargaining for a country based on Islam as its unifying force) and how his personal ambitions to be the boss led to the creation of Pakistan and later the greatest tragedy of modern times – the mayhem due to the partition of India into the Hindu dominated India and the Muslim Pakistan where millions died on both sides…..As Indians, most of us have read enough books on the uber westernized Jinnah and his run ins with our ever so Spartan and Saintly Mahatma…..

Between this Indian narrative of Jinnah as a villain and his image in Pakistan as the father of the nation (actually Jinnah is more Indian / Guju / Mumbai boy than Pakistan…he hardly lived in Pakistan…..succumbing to Cancer within a year of Pakistan’s formation ) possibly lies he truth. Sheela Reddy does not write a political biography but writes on Jinnah the person – his early child-hood, his love life and marriage and its slow disintegration finally culminating in his wife’s premature death.
With painstaking research, she creates a compelling tale of a poor indigent Gujarati Muslim who is sent to London to work, finds that if he has to work his way up in life, he needs to be something more than a clerk in a trading house, completes his law degree against all odds and comes to India to set up a flourishing legal practice and gravitates into politics. A lot of this was revealing as I was always under the impression that he was born rich and lived richer…the popular Indian narrative never focused on his humble background and his remarkable efforts to reach above his station thru hardwork.

Enter Russie Petit. Bon vivant,bohemian….born into Parsi aristocracy ( her father was amongst other things ….a Baronet) and all of 18 years old and her doomed attraction towards the successful widowed lawyer ( a child marriage story is part of the Jinnah background), their subsequent marriage, the run ins with the Parsi community ( she gets ex-communicated and her wealthy father also files a case of abduction against Jinnah), their complicated relationship and the final separation and later her untimely demise forms the crux of the story.

Apparently Ruttie Jinnah nee Petit was a prolific letter writer. Her correspondence with Sarojini Naidu ( a minor aside : During the independence struggle, Mrs Naidu was housed permanently in a suite in Taj Mumbai !) and her two daughters….Padmaja and Leelamani unspools her life as they were apparently her good friends, confidantes and her extended family after she was disowned by her own family and ostracized by the Parsis.

While the Indian Independence, the rise of Jinnah as a politician, his disillusionment with the Congress forms part of the context and backdrop of the book, it is the human story of Jinnah the son / lover / doting and indulgent husband to begin with and later the much older and wiser man trying to restore sanity and stability into his marriage which is heart wrenching,

The tragic story of the mismatched couple (he was 42 and she was all of 18) who eloped and got married, the early strains in the relationship as Jinnah got more and more busy with his legal career and his political life, the unstated expectations on both sides which were not fulfilled in the relationship, thesouring of their bond, frequent separations ( where she used to move into the Taj with Sarojini Naidu who was like her surrogate mother), their reunions, her trips abroad looking for meaning and purpose in life, not to speak of the numerous undefined relationships that she got into, the drug binges, the attempts at reconciliation – both by her and also Jinnah forms the main story line.

One gets to see a different side of Jinnah…the book ends much before partition….so one is spared the blood and gore of partition…..it is mostly Jinnah’s childhood, the roaring success he makes of his life as a lawyer and a freedom fighter and the doomed love story and marriage…..we walk away with a different image of Jinnah than what we have been fed all our life thru our desi-biographers.
Very interesting book….at times….some parts seems like a chic-lit…but one has to indulge the author here as her base material was letters exchanged between the young Ruttie Jinnah and the teenaged children of Sarojini Naidu…….but converted effectively into a very readable story by the author. ….Jinnah the man ….is an interesting one to know.

[Sabari Raychaudhuri · Rating 5 out of 5]

“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”
A letter from Mrs. Jinnah to her husband probably sums up the whole life that she had lived. Sheela Reddy unveils the lives of one of the most politically important character Muhammad Ali Jinnah and his counterpart and takes us to a journey to the bygone era in her book “Mr. And Mrs. Jinnah : The Marriage That Shook India.”
Rattanbai Dinshaw Pettit, Bombay’s young fairy princess, fell headlong in love with the charming barrister and rising star of Indian politics, Mohammad Ali Jinnah. Dazzled by his shiny exterior, she chose to overlook the stark disparity in age; but as the years progressed, the basic temperamental difference became too glaring shoving her to the life of a lonely neglected woman, cut off from the world. A life alienated from both her parents (who had disowned her upon the marriage) and husband, it became fit for the sombre tragedies she herself was so fond of.



I had picked up the book thinking it to be just yet another in the recent fad on Jinnah. But, very frankly, it turned out to be quite a bundle of pleasant surprises with such finer and elaborate details about an intriguing and pregnant era that still keeps the country captivated.

Sheela Reddy, true to her long and sound background in high-profile journalism, has done an extensive research into letters by Ruttie, the Naidu family and Kanji Dwarkadas (Jinnah’s friend and Ruttie’s unflinching support in her dark days), and various other reports of the period. She did not try to bridge the gaps with her imagination but has consistently maintained the original archives.
If you are someone truly interested in the history of Indian independence and partition, this could be a must read for you. The culpability for the partition often squarely falls on Jinnah, but people never cared to explore the series of events that led to the hapless partition in which Jinnah was just one piece playing his part in quite an enabling milieu. One can call this book somewhat an eye opener in the sense, it wrings out a gallery of prominent events from the dusty pages of history and shows up how it had affected each political move back then.
The book moves along in two parts striding side by side. In one, a young Ruttie was trying desperately to fit herself in Jinnah’s wry political life. In her frantic attempt to prove the world wrong about her decision for an against-all-odds marriage, which very few had thought would ever last, she kept going overboard with her attempts to remain close to Jinnah and his hectic public life. But despite of her attempts, the stark chasm between the two kept growing. In between the rigmarole, the young lady also becomes a mother of an almost unwanted child, who was left in the midst of maids and servants throughout her lonely childhood.
Parallel to the turmoil in Ruttie’s personal life, the book takes the readers through the events unfolding in India’s struggle for independence with vivid details. The more Jinnah got entangled in politics, the more Ruttie was fighting out her loneliness. In the years that followed, her only companions were Sarojini Naidu and her daughters, who were also getting busier by the day with their respective lives.
In addition, Sheela Reddy has managed to show us some rare pictures of the important political leaders of that era along with Mr. and Mrs. Jinnah.
A dejected, lonely Ruttie who had knitted her life around Jinnah wrote during her last day to her beloved husband:

“I have suffered much sweetheart because I have loved much. The measure of my agony has been in accord to the measure of my love.
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.”

With the end of disillusioned Mrs. Jinnah, a fairy tale romance followed by marriage also came to an end. Soon after this, India got divided in two parts and a new era started.

The readers might feel at times that the book is dragging a far too much and could have been more concise but they too can’t help but end up, falling in love with the headstrong girl and her suave lover and grieve that a marriage that could have been so beautiful, witnessed an unfortunate fate.

[Sultan khattak · Rating 4 out of 5]

' 𝐴𝑛𝑑 𝑑𝑜𝑤𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑙𝑜𝑛𝑔 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑠𝑖𝑙𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑠𝑡𝑟𝑒𝑒𝑡,
𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝑑𝑎𝑤𝑛, 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑠𝑖𝑙𝑣𝑒𝑟-𝑠𝑎𝑛𝑑𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑒𝑑 𝑓𝑒𝑒𝑡,
𝐶𝑟𝑒𝑝𝑡 𝑙𝑖𝑘𝑒 𝑎 𝑓𝑟𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡𝑒𝑛𝑒𝑑 𝑔𝑖𝑟𝑙. '

I just finished my first book about the life of the eminent, Mr Mohammed Ali Jinnah. This one about his marriage to and life spent with the Lovely, Miss Ruttie petit. A book I bought by accident, thinking it was Mr Bolitho's popular 'Jinnah' biography. Which will be my next purchase, and it will surely not be the last book I acquire about Mr M.A Jinnah.
I will recommend this book to a mature reader, I feel it will be more liked by the ladies. As it is about a lady and contains all the extravagant details of the polished, elegant, fashionable and liberal lifestyles of indian women of the high society, In 1920's Subcontinent. I enjoyed so much all sections that detail Mr Jinnah's political journey in it. The book is referenced from many letters collected in correspondence to all of Ruttie's friends and family. I'm not giving too much away, But I'm going to share some lines from the book. :)

…' Was it this ease with which he was able to impose his will on his family even as a boy of fifteen that gave him his extraordinary self confidence? ' Certainly, It was the most remarkable quality about him even before he reached England. The combination of his youthful appearance and the 'self-confidence of a person much beyond his years. …

….' He was a figure hard to overlook, even when he was starting out: a stylish, handsome young barrister who strode arrogantly down the corridors of courtrooms without talking to anyone, returning to his cheap hotel without a rupee in his pocket… '

...' Yet another official who was struck by Jinnahs confidence was Sir Charled Ollivant. He was so impressed by the fact that the young barrister approached him directly for a job instead of going through influential contacts, that he not only appointed him as a temporary magistrate but tried to persuade Jinnah to stay on permanently, offering him a princely salary of Rs 600 a month. Jinnah refused, confidently informing Ollivant that he hoped to make that much in a single day. it was no idle boast: he did succeed, and sooner than anyone could have imagined, in making more than double that amount in a day. ' …

[Manjul Tripathi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mr. and Mrs. Jinnah
“प्यार में अक्सर उसे ज़्यादा दुःख होता है, जो ज़्यादा प्यार करता है”।
मैं ऑडिबल पर किताबें सुनने का आदी हूँ। यह मेरे बर्तन धोने और हस्पताल तक जाने के वक़्त को एक आशय प्रदान करता है। इसी कवायत में मैंने “श्री और श्रीमती जिन्ना” के बारे में जाना। आप पूछ सकते हैं कि जिन्ना के बारे में क्या जानना है। एक हिंदुस्तानी, जिन्ना के बारे में बस कौतुहल और उनके राजनीतिक जीवन के विषय में जानना चाहता है, पर यह किताब युवा जिन्ना और उन से २४ साल छोटी उनकी प्रेमिका और पत्नी रुटी या यूँ कहें रतन बाई पेटिट के वेवाहिक़ जीवन पर आधारित है। शुरुआत से यह एक बेमेल विवाह था, उम्र, धर्म, जीवन पर अपने दृष्टिकोण और महत्वकांछाओं को ले कर।
गुरचरन दास के शब्दों में, “हर सुखी परिवार, समान कारणों के सुखी होता है, और हर दुखी परिवार के दुखी होने का कारण अलहदा होता है”। इस किताब के कुछ पन्ने पढ़ने के बाद आप राजनीतिक दृष्टिकोण के बजाय व्यक्तिगत दृष्टिकोण से इस रिश्ते का विश्लेषण करने लग जाते हैं। यह एक त्रासद कहानी है। उन्होंने अपने ऊपरी प्रयोगधर्मी परिवार और रूढ़िवादी समाज के विरोध के बावजूद जिन्ना से शादी की और फिर ताउम्र दुखी रहीं। यह किताब आपके दिल में एक वैसी ही टीस पैदा करती है, जैसे भगवती चरण वर्मा का उपन्यास “रेखा”। पारसी रुटी को अपने से कहीं बड़े मुसलमान जिन्ना से प्यार था, या यूँ कहें कि उनकी शख़्सियत से। जब आपको किसी शख़्सियत से प्यार होता है तो आप भूल जाते हैं, कि शख़्सियत उसके अतीत और उसके रहनुमाओं तथा मित्रों/शत्रुओं से विकसित होता है। आप शख़्सियत को प्यार तो कर सकते हैं पर केवल अपना ही अधिकार नहीं जता सकते। जिन्ना कि शख़्सियत एक कामयाब राजनीतिक और मंझे हुए वक़ील की थी। कामयाब पुरुष अक्सर शुष्क होते हैं। यह शुष्कता, जिसे हम अड़ियलपन या अहंकार कह सकते हैं, जीवन के कटु अनुभवों से आता है। ऐसे लोगों को प्यार करने में ख़ुद को ही मारना पड़ता है। रूटी जो जीवन की हर रंगीनियत पर फ़िदा थी, उसका जीवन अकेले रिक्त ही बीत गया। इस प्रेम विवाह ने उस वक़्त के राजनीतिक पटल पर ज़बरदस्त हलचल मचाई। नैतिक मुद्दों पर समाज अपनी सारी विसंगतियों के बावजूद निर्मम होता है। मुस्लिम लीग के नेता के तौर पर जिन्ना का विवाह हमेशा से उनके आढे आता रहा। जिन्ना का राजनीतिक कैरीअर रुटी के प्यार को एक अवरोध की तरह पाता था, और रुटी का प्यार जिन्ना की राजनीति की भेंट चढ़ गया। रुटी भरे यौवन में ही चल बसीं। जिन्ना की ज़िद ने उन दो चीज़ों को हमेशा के लिए ख़त्म कर दिया, जिन्हें वो सबसे ज़्यादा चाहते थे, रुटी और हिंदुस्तान

[Ankush Agarwal · Rating 4 out of 5]

A deeply researched narrative about a relationship that was as complex as the impact it might have had on a billion people. It's easy to hate Jinnah on this side of the border, and unfortunately, 'hate' is the only acceptable emotion for the character who played an instrumental role in the Partition. Any attempt to understand the person, his relationships, or the complexities and multitudes that define an individual is looked down upon. In such a setting, I am glad that I managed to find this hard-cover book in a waste shop.

While most of the characterization is narrated from the eyes of Sarojini Naidu (through her letters), the same is well corroborated with several other documented pieces of evidence and Sheela Reddy has done an impressive job of piecing them together to bring to us the lesser-known story of this tragic and ill-fated romance.

This story is more of its tragic queen, Ruttie Petit, than of Jinnah; and yet it's not difficult to build a contrasting image of him, than what I held over these years.

We are taught history in black and white and I still remember the unappreciated and clearly forced lines from my history curriculum. Would it not be better to learn history through analysis and discovery? But then, the rote is a quicker way to score, and in this environment, the quantitative easily wins over the qualitative.

My only grouse from the story is that it is difficult to piece the dates and events together. While most of the story progresses in a linear chronological fashion, there are rare but important leaps and without a clear indication of dates mentioned, it sometimes gets confusing to build the timeline in the reader's mind. I would also have liked to see the national and the global events mentioned more frequently, along with the dates to build a reference point.

Also, while towards the end, the long story feels a little repetitive with no new insight into either the characters or the events, the last chapter is beautiful and bound to bring tears to any compassionate reader.

The story will stay with me forever and I will have a knot in my heart. I wish I ever get a chance to visit the Khoja cemetery of Mazagaon to lay a Blue Flower and bring temporary joy to an eternal beauty.

[Anamika · Rating 5 out of 5]

A few pages are yet to be read of the book Mr and Mrs Jinnah, but the feelings that this book has churned in me is beyond what I can put down in words.
The book started by describing the rich families of Bombay, including that of Ruttie Petit and the raise of Jinnah to the political power that he had become. But more importantly, it spoke about the relationship between Ruttie and Jinnah.
How they had fallen in love and decided to marry against the communities that they belonged to. But the love and excitement had soon dried up. Jinnah immersed himself in his work and politics and never realized all the turmoil that Ruttie was going through.
Her exile from her family and community, for marrying him, (losing her identity) followed by the strained relationship between Jinnah and her caused great pain and heartache. Finally, without even her knowledge she had become prey to her own mind’s darkness.
On 4 January 1928, they parted away. After recovering from the illness, on her way back to Bombay, she wrote a letter to Jinnah – which was almost frightening in its absence of all hope and future, drained of all life and passion, and yet filled with great tenderness and sorrow – as the book describes.
20 February 1929, on her 29th birthday, she passed away. As a Kanji, a close friend of Jinnah had described, something had snapped in him after this incident. Her last words to him in the letter – ‘Try to remember me beloved as the flower you plucked and not the flower you tread on’ – haunted him forever. And many years later he had confessed, ‘She was a child and I should never have married her. The fault was mine.’
After the death of his wife, Jinnah had completely changed, his bitterness, born out of his personal loss and disappointment travelled into his political life. His sole mission was to fight for the Muslims and he stopped only after he won. At the site of the refugees in the newly created country he had wept, for he had once again destroyed what he had loved the most.
Finally, I turned the last page with a heavy heart.

[Prasad GR · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a well-rounded account of Jinnah’s marriage that turned out to be an eye-opener for me. Going beyond the stereotypical narrative of Jinnah that is not just prevalent, but also dominant, this book offers a ringside view of him as an individual and a husband whose stoicism seems to have wrecked his marriage.

The book begins with an intriguing overview of the interfaith marriage scene in India at the turn of the century, dipping into the lives of a variety of people. That we retain those sentiments a hundred years hence is tragic indeed. Nevertheless, the intimate glimpse it offers of several historical figures - whose images are predominantly built on the hagiographies penned by their acolytes - is refreshing, to say the least.

Besides Jinnah, this book also offers an impressive account of the life that Sarojini Naidu and her family led. This is again a first - at least for me - what with the popular narrative being simplistic enough to only talk about her prowess as a poet, and a nationalist. Is it any wonder then that a search on Jinnah or Sarojini Naidu yields a list of books that offer only extreme views of them?

And that is precisely why Sheela Reddy’s achievement with this book is the balanced view she offers of Jinnah - and his times. She also masterfully interweaves the politics of the time into the personal narrative to brilliant effect, and keeps up the brisk pace of her narrative.

This has piqued my interest enough to delve deeper into the history of that time. And I guess that is the true measure of the success of any book.

[JIGAR GAJJAR]

Jinnah was the son of a trader from a place situated in present day Pakistan . As always expected from parents and in particularly from a father that his son will take over the business and excel it further. But Jinnah on other hand had some other dreams. He wanted to emancipate from his existing situation to achieve something bigger and brighter.

Ruttie Petit the daughter of Parsi Baronet who is born and brought up in lavish life one could only dream of ends up in love with Jinnah ,a person who was only 3 years junior to her own father. They elope one fine day. This union created tremors in otherwise orthodox Indian society.This marriage between two people having almost nothing in common, turns to be a very intriguing affair. There were many things to it like
1. The 24 years age difference
2. The inter cast marriage and that too between Muslim and Parsi in 1918
3. Political turnmoil in India

This book touches the delicate nuances of the most controversial marriage of then undivided India and is very deeply researched by author Sheela Reddy. It’s a very different read and a must read for people who prefer slow yet absorbing reads. A worthy book to know a lot about the father of Pakistan.

[Saleha Shah · Rating 4 out of 5]

It took me an awfully long time to read this book.

Reddy gives us a completely different perspective to Jinnah and his sister Fatima - quite different to the stories we grew up with. She divulges into the personal life of him and Ruttie mainly from the letters Sarajoni and her daughters wrote to Her. I was fascinated through out and really enjoyed learning about life in Rutties world. How she was as a person and what attracted Jinnah to her.

It was interesting to learn about the things that were happening in Jinnahs personal life during the times where major events were happening in the sub continent. I really liked how she supported him in the beginning through out - often times was the only woman in gatherings at the courts. It wa sad to see that they Dina wasn’t named until her mother died and was neglected throughout her childhood.

A few things I would like to remember:
His role in Hindu and Muslim unity
How he disliked Ghandi - immensely
His childhood and his time alone in England leading him to adopt English ways
His determined work ethic and his stony demeanour
His relationship with his sister
Fatima’s relationship with Ruttie and Dina

[Serena Raheel · Rating 4 out of 5]

1918: In British-held India two star-crossed lovers from different religions fall for each other. Amid great opposition and even greater efforts to keep them apart, they defy all odds as they come together in the first Muslim-Parsi union of those times.

Sheela Reddy delves into the love story of two contrasting personalities, from their childhoods through to their marriage and onwards – Ruttie was a rainbow to the monochrome of Jinnah’s personality! However, both were passionate about politics and the movement for independence.

Their story is set in an era on the cusp of change; as the younger generation adapts to Western culture and the country progresses towards its independence movement – this book provides a great insight into the political climate of the region, even more so because Jinnah was at the head of Indian politics.

Amid all the political hullabaloo, on the journey that started together, Ruttie falls behind somewhere, and in his political zeal, Jinnah failed to see that. Ruttie, fighting her own personal demons plunges into despair and despondency.

Though Jinnah never objected to anything she did, he also never expressed his admiration. Communication then, or rather the lack of it, was to blame for their troubles. Both hid their emotions from each other, and everyone. He under his stoic, serious workaholic demeanor; she under her flamboyant, couldn’t-care-less attitude. Putting up a brave face against her ex-communication and societal criticism she eventually lost the battle.

Sheela Reddy has described each phase of the story in beautifully round chapters. I absolutely loved the chapter segregation; it was so neat; such a pleasure to read.
She provided a fair amount of interesting incidents to add amusement to the otherwise tragic story.
However, I felt this book was from Ruttie’s perspective and more sympathetic to her plight, probably because it was Ruttie’s correspondence that was its base but I believe there should be Jinnah’s perspective too if he ever shared so much of his personal life with someone!

It is true that this was one historic non-fiction that I didn't lose interest in and completed at a steady pace!

[Avinash Shrivastava · Rating 5 out of 5]

इस कभी न भूलने वाली प्रेम कहानी को वरिष्ठ पत्रकार शीला रेड्डी अपनी नई किताब 'मिस्टर और मिसेज़ जिन्ना' में एक बार फिर ताज़ा कर रही हैं। अंग्रेजी के बाद अब यह हिंदी में आई है। मदन सोनी का अनुवाद है। किताब में जिन्ना और रूटी के बेमेल प्रेम, समाज को हिला देने वाली उनकी शादी और कम उम्र में रूटी की मौत के दरमियानी किस्से तो हैं ही, जिन्ना और उनकी बेटी दीना के रिश्ते के बीच की तल्खी को भी पढ़ा जा सकता है। ये जिन्ना से ज्यादा रूटी और दीना की कहानी ज्यादा है क्योंकि उनकी जिंदगी ज्यादा तकलीफ में गुज़री। शीला ने उतनी ही संजीदगी से बयां भी किया है। इसके लिए उन्होंने रूटी और उनके दोस्तों की ऐसी चिट्ठियों का सहारा लिया, जो इसके पहले कभी देखने में नहीं आईं। दिल्ली, मुंबई औऱ कराची में की गई रिसर्च के नतीजे के रूप में आई ये किताब राजनीति, इतिहास और एक अविस्मरणीय प्रेम कहानी में दिलचस्पी रखने वालों को ज़रूर पढ़नी चाहिए।

[Aamna · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm absolutely devastated. I feel like I'm grieving the death of a friend.

"What a tragedy of unfulfillment Ruttie's life has been - she was so young and so lovely and she loved life with such passionate eagerness, and always life passed her by leaving her with empty hands and heart."

If Jinnah never forgot her and felt guilty for her death, he should have.

As for the writing and the book itself, kudos to the author for articulating and contextualizing so breezily a turbulent decade that saw so much political and social change. Sheela Reddy weaves a personal and political story masterfully, clearly having done meticulous research and taking the painstaking effort for the reader to bridge gaps in understanding from fragmented pieces of history.

This is not a story that will leave me.

[Ron Jack · Rating 5 out of 5]

An insight into the inner Chambers of the otherwise impenetrable Jinnah, this book serves as a lovely insight into an eventful married life of the founder of Pakistan. Juxtaposed against the political and social milieu of early 20th century India, the relationship between Ruttie and her husband Jinnah had so many hues of grey that it left me captivated. A masterpiece on human relationships, the role of family, religion and society, and the mind and life of a leader, this book is a must read for those interested in history / human behavior / relationships etc. The role played by Sarojini Naidu and her family particularly piqued my interest. As did the dichotomies present in Ruthie and Jinnah as they went through their own life journeys.

[Anil Dhingra · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great insight into many aspects of the India under British rule infrequently discussed. The lifestyle of the Rich Indians is interesting, not brushed under the carpet. The 5th star is for a fine depiction of Jinnah himself without getting obsessed with his negative traits as many authors do. He is shown as a suave, liberal, well groomed. He is not a fanatic, enjoying his whiskey. Shown to have a lot of positive traits with a sharp understanding of issues and legal aspect. He had an ego which is what led to the partition of India. He hated Gandhi plus had a lot of other negative traits. However on the whole he was a much better politician than many of the subsequent ones on both sides of the border.

[Ashish · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was so drawn to this book that I sent multiple request to my library in Auckland to buy a copy of it and while it took four months to arrive, I already had made multiple failed attempts to read Kindle edition.
It's a rather dry book as much of the facts/references come from the letters written between Mrs Jinnah and Sarojini Naidu and her daughters. Not sure why the writer didn't expand her scope and write more about Mr Jinnah. Maybe she wanted to focus on the subject. Nonetheless, it gives a pretty good idea of humane side of Mr Jinnah and that's why I wanted to read it. Language could have been better and it could have been a shorter book by a third.
Do read to know about the only time Mr Jinnah showed emotions.

[Soumya Sreehari · Rating 4 out of 5]

My awareness of Indian history is limited to school social science text books. This is the first book I have read about Jinnah. It is a good read. It was difficult for me to set a pace for the first couple of chapters, and then it got better. My reading experience touched me in 3 dimensions - it gave me information, it gave me perspectives, it compelled me to introspect. The specialty of this story is that the marriage assumes a character of its own. It is a story of two people's relationship - its influence on them and those around them. It is an interesting read. 4 stars because it touched me at an emotional level and compelled me to think about relationships.

[Chellappan Chidambaram · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quite an interesting read...
This book is more about the couple's personal life than about politics (which I would have absolutely relished) - Jinnah's relationship with Ruttie is the subject however the book does not stop at just that. Jinnahs' relationship with Sarojini Naidu and her family is a parallel plot and even Jinnah's brushes with Gandhi have been briefly discussed. Quite a number of other political leaders make a guest appearance too :-D
This book starts off at a good pace and continues to be interesting until the last few chapters.
Overall, not an un-put-down-able book but certainly interesting.