Dina was born to them .She was their only
child .Years later like her mother , she was to run into problems with her dad (Jinnah ),when she
wanted to marry Neville Wadia ,a Parsi (like her mother).Jinnah told her that
there were millions of Muslims she could marry ,and that it was absurd for her
to choose to marry a Parsi .When she retorted
that he had done the same when he married Ruth ,his cold emotionless answer was
“She became a Muslim”. Period .No negotiation .No relenting .From either side
.He disowned his daughter when she married Neville .!!Incidentally she is the grandmother of Ness Wadia who owns Punjab Kings X1 who is Nusli Wadia and Maureen Wadias son .
Back to Jinnah and Ruth . 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 wife .Slowly but surely the dream
marriage started to turn sour .He became abnormally obsessed with
politics and by 1922 Ruth found herself, lonely enough to pack her bags and take
her daughter to London.
But she still loved the man for whom she
had forsaken the world .She wrote to her
friend Kanji, thanking him for the bouquet of roses he had sent as a bon voyage
gift and by ending thus “
“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
in politics , and sadly had little time to devote to her.He had
started to get obsessed with power .
By 1927, Ruttie and Jinnah had virtually separated,
and his move to Delhi was just the final blow to a
relationship that was already on oxygen .It was gasping for breath .
Ruttie's health deteriorated rapidly in the years
after 1927.It is said that she died of
cancer because of the passive smoking of her husband .The tragedy was that
she was still so young –not even 28 years old . But she kept her
interest in her pets and her close friends .She shifted into the Taj Hotel
–frail and weak .Amongst the last things she requested of her friend Kanji was
that he look after her cats .She died on 20th FEB 1929 .She was only
28 years old !!! It was as if love had been brutally murdered .
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.Did he forget her ?The answer appears to be NO .According to his
chauffeur
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 the box and were spread
on the carpets. He would gaze at them for long with eloquent silence. Then his
eyes turn moist.”
Jinnah left India in August 1947, never to return
again. He had pursued two
things which every man seeks and if lucky gets both .One –Love . He lost out on it because he lost
Ruth .But he won what he gave up to as
tradeoff –Power .With his zeal ,passion
, and doggedness he was able to divide India into 2 parts .He became the
QUAID E AZAM of the newly created state
of Pakistan .How did it all happen ?
Thats a part of my next blog on Jinnah .Part 3.
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