Mr and Mrs Jinnah Read online

  Umar Sobhani, Jinnah’s loyal lieutenant who went over to Gandhi’s side, wrote on his disillusionment with Jinnah in a letter to Padmaja Naidu dated 3 October 1920: ‘I wonder if you have heard of Jinnah’s antics. Few months ago, I would have knocked off the head of the man who would have dared to suggest that Jinnah could be so petty. What disillusionment. If you have not heard about him, I shall not enlighten you at present but some day I shall give you an account of the whole business.’ Cited in the Padmaja Naidu Papers (NMML archives).

  Hector Bolitho met the broker in charge of Jinnah’s investments who said about Jinnah: ‘At the time of Partition his fortune must have been from six to seven million rupees. Although he was thrifty, he never pursued money in a cheap way. One instance of this. A client was sent to him and he told Jinnah that he had limited money with which to fight his case. Jinnah took it up and lost. But he believed in the case and that it should be taken to the Appeal Court, so he promised to fight the case, without being paid. He won, and when the client offered to pay, Jinnah refused; he had agreed to take no fee and he would not have the conditions changed just because he had succeeded.’ Cited in In Quest of Jinnah.

  Ruttie’s quote from her letter to Kanji Dwarkadas, dated 25 September 1922. On Ruttie, Kanji wrote: ‘She was always with him, and though she was much younger than he, she without him realizing it, looked after him and made his life in all its aspects, pleasant, carefree and well worth living.’ Cited in Ruttie Jinnah: The Story of a Great Friendship.

  One of Jinnah’s young friends, M.A.H. Ispahani writes: ‘If he decided . . . not to take more than a quantity fixed by him of food or other refreshment, no amount of persuasion and no temptation would wring a change in his resolve. He had so disciplined himself that he could, without stress or strain, resist all temptations and pleading.’ From Quaid-i-Azam Jinnah As I knew Him by M.A.H. Ispahani (Karachi: Forward Publications Trust, 1967).

  Sarojini Naidu’s letter to Padmaja, dated 28 January 1928, on Ruttie’s confession about the state of her marriage, from the Padmaja Naidu Papers (NMML archives).

  Jinnah attends the public meeting of the Ali brothers on 21 January 1921, and his speech at Gokhale’s sixth death anniversary on 19 February 1921. Cited in the Bombay Chronicle, and reproduced in The Works of Quaid-i-Azam 1921–1924, vol. 6.

  Meeting at the Excelsior Theatre, from India’s Fight for Freedom.

  Padmaja Naidu’s letters to Leilamani dated April 1921 and June 1921, from the Leilamani Naidu Papers (NMML archives).

  Sarojini Naidu’s letter to Leilamani dated 11 June 1921, from the Leilamani Naidu Papers (NMML archives).

  Sarojini Naidu’s letter to Padmaja (undated); her letter to Leilamani dated 5 July 1921; and her letter to Padmaja dated 20 January 1928; from the Padmaja Naidu Papers (NMML archives).

  The incident of Jinnah leaving the ballroom after the band struck up, from M.A.H. Ispahani’s recollections in Quaid-e-Azam Jinnah As I Knew Him.

  Jinnah recounted the anecdote of finding shirts after the War at pre-War prices to K.H. Khurshid, from Memories of Jinnah.

  On Jinnah’s fastidiousness, Diwan Chaman Lal writes: ‘I reminded him of the day we spent together in Paris . . . roaming the shops to buy ties and shirts. After seeing hundreds of ties he at last chose one . . .’ From Tributes to Quaid-i-Azam edited by Muhammad Hanif Shahid (Lahore: Sang-E-Meel Publications, 1976)

  Leilamani Naidu’s letters to Padmaja dated 6 July 1921 and 15 July 1921, from the Padmaja Naidu Papers (NMML archives).

  Jinnah’s letter to Montagu from Paris dated 8 August 1921, from The Works of Quaid-i-Azam 1921–1924, vol. 6.

  Sarojini Naidu’s letter to Leilamani dated 10 August 1921 and 14 December 1921 from the Leilamani Naidu Papers and her letter to Padmaja (undated), from the Padmaja Naidu Papers (NMML archives).

  Sarojini Naidu’s letter to Syud Hossain dated 9 September 1921, from the Sarojini Naidu Papers (NMML archives.)

  Sarojini Naidu’s letters to Padmaja dated 19 September 1921, 4 October 1921 and 8 November 1921, from the Padmaja Naidu Papers (NMML archives).

  A short biography of Anita Delgado in Wicked Women of the Raj by Coralie Younger (New Delhi: HarperCollins India, 2003).

  Rushbrook William’s article quoted in Ruttie Jinnah by Khwaja Razi Haider.

  Chapter Eighteen

  Kanji Dwarkadas’s all-night political discussion with the Jinnahs on 2 and 3 January 1922, from Ruttie Jinnah: The Story of a Great Friendship.

  Ruttie’s letter to Padmaja, dated September 1915, refers to her bilious complaint: ‘I have had that—sweet things make you bilious—so much dinned into me . . .’ Cited in the Padmaja Naidu Papers (NMML archives). Jinnah smoked fifty cigarettes a day (his brand was Craven A), and according to his physician, could live on ‘will-power, whisky and cigarettes’.

  Sarojini’s letters to Padmaja dated 9 and 13 January, 1922; 20 and 26 March 1922; 16 May 1922; 22 June 1922; 20 January 1928; 1 and 28 July 1922; 7 and 12 September 1924; 2 December 1924; 30 January 1925; 5 and 21 February 1925; and 25 March 1925; from Padmaja Naidu Papers (NMML archives).

  Fatima Jinnah relates her brother’s aversion to doctors, ‘thinking he could will his way to health . . .’ and also the story he told the doctor about a woman who would not leave her bed despite the doctor assuring her that she was all right in My Brother.

  Sarojini’s letters to Leilamani dated 2 February 1922; 20 April 1922; 2 June 1922; 29 July 1922; and 5 June 1923; from the Leilamani Naidu Papers (NMML archives).

  Leilamani’s letters to Padmaja dated 22 February 1922; 14 June 1923; 26 and 20 November 1924; 16 January 1925; and 15 February 1925; from the Padmaja Naidu Papers (NMML archives).

  Ranadheera Naidu’s letter to Leilamani dated 25 April 1922, from the Leilamani Naidu Papers (NMML archives).

  Padmaja’s letters to Leilamani dated 20 April 1922; 12 November 1926; 5 December 1926; from the Leilamani Naidu Papers (NMML archives).

  On Jinnah’s carefulness with money but his good humour in putting up with being teased about it, Kanji Dwarkadas recounts how Ruttie and he ribbed Jinnah about the note he left in the suggestion book of the Orient Club in 1906 asking for a reduction in charges paid for losing at billiards by six annas a game: ‘Jinnah replied [that] six annas was very much six annas and in those days when his legal practice was not bringing a good income, he could not afford to pay twelve annas a game.’ Cited in India’s Fight for Freedom.

  Ruttie’s letters to Kanji Dwarkadas dated 25 September 1922; and 21 November 1924; from Ruttie Jinnah: The Story of a Great Friendship.

  Madame Bhikhaiji Cama by Khorshed Adi Sethna (Builders of Modern India Series, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Government of India, 1987).

  Jaisoorya Naidu’s letter to Leilamani dated 10 November 1926, from the Leilamani Naidu Papers (NMML archives).

  Leilamani Naidu’s letter to her father dated 19 June 1923, from the M.G. Naidu Papers (NMML archives).

  Ruttie’s letter to Leilamani dated 22 June 1923, from the Leilamani Naidu Papers (NMML archives).

  Jinnah’s election manifesto in the Bombay Chronicle (20 September 1923), cited in The Works of Quaid-i-Azam 1921–1924, vol. 6.

  Jinnah’s remark on Pandit Motilal Nehru, from Alva, Leaders of India, quoted in Secular and Nationalist Jinnah.

  Jinnah’s quotes on his marriage and Ruttie, from In Quest of Jinnah.

  Ruttie’s poem and note to Padmaja dated 9 January 1925 and letter dated 2 January 1925, from the Padmaja Naidu Papers (NMML archives).

  Sayyada Badrunnisa’s article on her visit to the Jinnahs’ home quoted in Khwaja Razi Haider’s Ruttie Jinnah.

  Jazz music and dance in Bombay, from The Taj at Apollo Bunder by Charles Allen and Sharada Dwivedi.

  Kanji Dwarkadas’s interview with Shahabuddin Desnavi in his autobiography, Deeda-o-Shuneeda.

  Napoleon—Lover and Husband by Frederick Masson, translated by J.M. Howell (Ohio: Saalfield Publishing Co, 1907), is among Jinnah’s pe
rsonal collection of books in the Karachi University Library.

  Dr M.G. Naidu’s letter to Padmaja dated 28 July 1918, along with newspaper clipping on spinal bath, from the Padmaja Naidu Papers (NMML archives).

  Sarojini Naidu’s letters to Ranadheera (wrongly) dated April 1921; 23 March 1925; from the Ranadheera Naidu Papers (NMML archives).

  Ruttie’s letters to Kanji Dwarkadas, undated (on Khannum’s visit) and dated 1 May 1925, from Ruttie Jinnah: Life and Love by Shagufta Yasmeen.

  Reminiscence of Ruttie in Simla by Nawab Yameen Khan in his memoir Nama-i-A’amal, and cited in Khwaja Razi Haider’s Ruttie Jinnah.

  Ibid for Jahan Ara Shahnawaz’s recollection of Ruttie.

  Chapter Nineteen

  Sarojini’s letters to Padmaja dated 10 April 1925; 1 and 27 September 1925; 7, 13 and 27 February 1926; 8 April 1926; 18 August 1926; 11, 13 and 23 October 1926; 12 and 23 February 1927; 22 March 1927; 3 May 1927; 26 and 29 September 1927; and 16 October 1927; from the Padmaja Naidu Papers (NMML archives).

  Sarojini’s letters to Leilamani dated 3 October 1925; 21 and 29 January 1926; 23 February 1926; 3 March 1926; 10 April 1926; 12 November 1926; and 4 and 11 December 1926; from the Leilamani Naidu Papers (NMML archives).

  Ruttie’s letters to Kanji Dwarkadas dated 28 December 1924; 7 and 12 April 1925; 5 June 1925; 31 March 1926; 1 September 1926; two undated letters; and 28 August 1927; from Ruttie Jinnah: The Story of a Great Friendship.

  Ruttie’s letters to Kanji Dwarkadas, undated (on Khannum’s visit) and dated 1 May 1925, from Ruttie Jinnah: Life and Love by Shagufta Yasmeen.

  Sarojini’s letter to M.C. Chagla dated 22 March 1927; 4 August 1927; from the Chagla Papers (NMML archives).

  The Tourist’s Guide to Kashmir, Ladakh, Skardu & C edited by the late Major Arthur Neve, surgeon to the Kashmir Medical Mission. This was printed at the Civil and Military Gazette Press in 1923, and is among Jinnah’s personal collection of books in the Karachi University Library.

  Sarojini’s letter to Kanji Dwarkadas dated 1 September 1927, from Ruttie Jinnah: The Story of a Great Friendship.

  Ruttie’s letter to Padmaja dated 15 November 1927 and wire dated 17 November 1927, from the Padmaja Naidu Papers (NMML archives).

  Chapter Twenty

  Sarojini Naidu’s letters to Padmaja dated 16 and 20 January 1928; 12 February 1928; 14 March 1928 (cable); 2 April 1928; 1 May 1928; 22 August 1928; 10 October 1928; from the Padmaja Naidu Papers (NMML archives).

  Sarojini Naidu’s letter to Syud Hossain dated 26 July 1928, from the Sarojini Naidu Papers (NMML archives).

  Padmaja Naidu’s letters to M.C. Chagla dated March 1928, from the M.C. Chagla Papers (NMML archives).

  Sarojini Naidu’s letters to M.C. Chagla dated 5 February 1928; 2 April 1928; 1 July 1928; 25 October 1928; from the M.C. Chagla Papers (NMML archives).

  Jinnah returned from Delhi on 30 March 1928 and ‘found that Ruttie had moved from their home to Hotel Taj Mahal, renting a suite there by month. Kanji Dwarkadas helped Ruttie in shifting herself to [the] hotel.’ Cited in Quaid-i-Azam and His Times: A Compendium edited by Sharif Al Mujahid (Karachi: Quaid-i-Azam Academy, 1990).

  Jinnah’s remark to Parsi friend, from Jinnah: Creator of Pakistan.

  Diwan Chaman Lal’s reminiscence of Jinnah on board the ship and the one-day tour of Cairo, from his Oral History Transcript (Account No. 220, NMML archives).

  Sarojini Naidu’s letters to Leilamani dated 31 May 1928; and 6 and 12 June 1928; from the Leilamani Naidu Papers (NMML archives).

  M.G. Naidu’s letter to Padmaja dated 21 May 1928, from the Padmaja Naidu Papers (NMML archives).

  Diwan Chaman Lal’s recounting of Ruttie’s illness in Paris and their parting after a month, from Jinnah: Creator of Pakistan and Lall’s article, ‘The Quaid-i-Azam As I Knew Him’, cited in the Pakistan Times, and quoted in Tributes to Quaid-i-Azam.

  Motilal Nehru’s letter to Jinnah dated 2 August 1928 and Jinnah’s reply to Motilal Nehru dated 20 October 1928, from Quaid-i-Azam and His Times: A Compendium.

  Ruttie’s letter to Jinnah dated 5 October 1928 (QAP-F-890, National Archives of Pakistan).

  While some historians state that Ruttie went to live in the Taj Mahal Hotel in Bombay after returning from Paris, there is no evidence to support it. On the contrary, Kanji Dwarkadas’s memoir, Ruttie Jinnah: The Story of a Great Friendship, makes frequent references to Ruttie’s ‘house’ and not a hotel suite. According to G. Allana’s Quaid-E-Azam Jinnah: The Story of a Nation, ‘When she returned to India, Mrs Jinnah went to live with her brother in Bombay.’ And according to Syed Sharifuddin Pirzada’s Some Aspects of Quaid-i-Azam’s Life, she went to live with her mother. But the Petits’ with their vast estates are more likely to have set her up in an independent house, which is what Ruttie would have no doubt preferred rather than living as a dependent on either her brother or mother.

  J. Krishnamurthy, in his letter to Kanji dated 1 April 1929, wrote: ‘I thought she would get well, when we last saw her [on 2 February 1929]. She looked so much better.’ Cited in Ruttie Jinnah: The Story of a Great Friendship.

  Quotes from Jinnah’s speech at the all-parties conference in Calcutta on 28 December 1928, from Quaid-i-Azam and His Times: A Compendium.

  Ibid. Jinnah’s cable to the All India Muslim League assistant secretary, dated 6 February 1929.

  Jamshed Nusserwanjee’s recollection of Jinnah after the all-parties conference in Calcutta, from Jinnah: Creator of Pakistan.

  Kanji Dwarkadas’s interview with Shahabuddin Desnavi in the latter’s autobiography, Deeda O Shuneeda.

  Diwan Chaman Lal’s account of Jinnah leaving Delhi for Ruttie’s funeral, from his article in the Pakistan Times, and reproduced in Tributes to Quaid-i-Azam.

  B.A. Hashmi’s reminiscence on the condolence visit, from In Quest of Jinnah: Diary, Notes and Correspondence of Hector Bolitho.

  Padmaja Naidu’s letter to M.C. Chagla dated June 1929, from the M.C. Chagla Papers (NMML archives).

  Sarojini Naidu’s letters to Padmaja dated 19, 25 and 30 March 1929; 7 April 1929; 6 May 1929; 24 July 1929; 22 and 24 August 1929; 1 September 1929; 21 October 1929; from the Padmaja Naidu Papers, (NMML archives).

  Umar Sobhani died suddenly in August 1926 of unnatural causes that shook Sarojini very deeply.

  Margaret E. Cousins, Irish suffragist and theosophist, moved to India in 1915 with her husband, James Cousins, and worked with Annie Besant. She was a teacher and author of several books, including The Awakening of Asian Womanhood.

  Sarojini Naidu’s letter to Ranadheera dated 31 March 1929, from the Ranadheera Naidu Papers (NMML Archives).

  Dina Wadia on her grandmother as told to Ameena Saiyid in Karachi.

  Leilamani Naidu’s letters to Padmaja dated 9 and 15 September 1930, from the Padmaja Naidu Papers (NMML archives).

  Letter from Frances H. Browne, The Hoo, Willingdon, Sussex, to Jinnah dated 3 September 1936, notifying him of Dina’s school certificate exam results (National Archives of Pakistan, Islamabad).

  Jinnah’s chauffeur, Mohammad Hanif Azad’s reminiscence, from Bitter Fruit: The Very Best of Saadat Hasan Manto, edited and translated by Khalid Hasan (New Delhi: Penguin India, 2008).

  Acknowledgements

  This book would probably have never seen the light of day without the generous and selfless help that I gratefully accepted from innumerable friends, and strangers who became friends in the four years it took in its making. I could not have begun, first of all, without the passion and diligence of Padmaja Naidu who spent the last years of her life building up the Nehru Memorial Museum and Library, and had the foresight and imagination to collect and preserve her family’s vast and lively correspondence, a treasure trove of rich source material, and put it at the disposal of the curious in the NMML archives.

  I owe much also to Ameena Saiyid for her generous hospitality, and for making my month-long research visit to Pakistan both joyful and productive, putting me in touch with anyone and anythin
g of use to me in my pursuit of the elusive Jinnahs, and overwhelming me with lists of contacts and books. Among the many friends who translated from Urdu and put books and papers my way were the staff of the Karachi University Library and the Quaid-i-Azam Academy, Karachi, besides the librarian of the Dawn newspaper. Among the many authors and scholars on Jinnah who shared of their valuable time and knowledge, my special thanks to Sharif al Mujahid, Khwaja Razi Haider, Riaz Ahmad and Naeem Qureshi.

  In Bombay, Cyrus Gazdar was tireless in helping me track down elusive persons from the Parsi community and for magically opening doors that were firmly closed to me, and Syloo Mathai for shedding some light on Ruttie’s family tree and background. The librarian of the Cama Oriental Institute was of invaluable help in locating material on the Parsis. Sunita Narain and Wendy of the Taj magazine were also of help in pulling out books from their archives and copying files for me. In Hyderabad, a temple trustee helped me locate Padmaja Naidu’s forgotten papers and photographs, gathered in a cloth bundle and locked up in a dusty cupboard inside a dharmashala in a sabji mandi.

  Nor would this book have been possible without Khushwant Singh, friend and mentor and indefatigable nagger, and Vinod Mehta, who until the end, did not allow me to lose hope or cut corners. And equally impossible without my editor, Ranjana Sengupta, the deftest of midwives whose searching questions enabled me to look deeper, and Shanuj V.C., who kept me from panicking with his calm competence. Thank you, both.

  This book owes a lot too to the unwavering support of my sisters, Usha, Asha and Shobha, whose love and faith carried me through, and my cousin Malini in Bombay for sending me off every morning to do my research with a packed tiffin box, and Madhavan, who thought the book was a good idea worth pursuing, and Ruchira for her prayers.