MY article on Ruttie Jinnah, nee Sir Dinshaw and Lady Dina Petit, and Right Honuorable Mohammad Ali Jinnah, titled 'Till death did they apart' was printed in DawnMagazine on April 20, 1990.
'Till death' renders the narrative of my Papa, Haji bhai Esmail Dossa, of the bizarre circumstances of how the mortal remains of Ruttie Jinnah were brought to the Khoja Shiite Isna'asheri Aram Baugh Cemetery of Mazgoan, Bombay.
A fortnight after the publication of the article, my father was interviewed on Channel V, London. He confessed that he could not add to the information on Ruttie Jinnah that was given by him to me for the compilation 'Till death.'
All that he had to say was detailed in the write-up for Dawn. However, Papa took exception to the question that suggested antagonism between Ruttie and the Founder. My Papa rebutted the speculations that were fuelled by the enemies of Jinnah that he and his wife were separated.
Jinnah and Ruttie had their differences but then which husband and wife do not have differences? However, they were not by any stretch of imagination leading separate lives.
My father added that it was just a coincidence that Jinnah was in New Delhi when Ruttie succumbed to hemorrhaging from cancer in the Taj Mahal Hotel of Mumbai on Feb 20, 1929, and all kinds of versions have been attributed to this incident.
Jinnah was punctual and pertinent, felt duty-bound, to public bodies from where he was elected and, therefore, to his Khoja Molla and Crawford Market Muslim constituency of Mumbai.
Ailing Ruttie had thrown a small luncheon party for Jay, as she addressed Jinnah, and their immediate families on his 52nd birthday, Christmas Day of Dec 25, 1928, at the Taj Mahal Ball Room. Cancer afflicted Ruttie was residing in the top floor suite at Taj Mahal Hotel for access to her doctors who had their clinics on adjacent Hornby Road.
Last time husband and wife were together was on Jinnah's 52 birthday. Evening of Dec 25, 1928, Jinnah wished adieu to Ruttie at her suite in Taj Mahal Hotel and was driven to Victoria Station to take the Frontier Mail for New Delhi. Jinnah was true to his commitments to his Bombay Muslim constituency.
Jinnah desired to reach the opening session of the Indian Legislative Assembly, in New Delhi, the capital city of British India. Workaholic Jinnah was away from his cancer-stricken wife in Bombay for two months, deeply involved, lost, his time consumed in the Assembly proceedings.
News that Ruttie had suddenly collapsed and returned to eternity 81 years ago today was conveyed to Jinnah in New Delhi from Bombay on the telephone by his father-in-law, Sir Dinshaw Petit. Jinnah returned post haste to Bombay from New Delhi on Feb 22, 1929 and led Ruttie's funeral.
MOHAMMED AZIZ HAJI DOSSA
Karachi
