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In late 1919, Rattanbai “Ruttie” Jinnah left Bombay for Hyderabad to visit her friend Padmaja Naidu, while her husband, Muhammad Ali Jinnah, and their infant daughter remained behind. Sheela Reddy’s account presents the journey not as a permanent break, but as Ruttie’s attempt to reclaim time, friendship and a measure of independence amid a marriage and life that had changed around her.
Where did Mrs Jinnah go, and whom did she visit?
Ruttie went to Hyderabad to see Padmaja Naidu. The journey followed the couple’s trip from Bombay to Amritsar at the end of December 1919, where they attended sessions of the Indian National Congress and the Muslim League. In Reddy’s telling, Ruttie was disillusioned with the political proceedings and wanted to reconnect with Padmaja and her sister, Leilamani, and the social circle she associated with them.
Reddy’s excerpt says Ruttie traveled with her dog, Arlette, along with the dog’s attendant and food. The detail gives a glimpse of the arrangements she made for the trip; it does not, by itself, establish what she felt about leaving her daughter behind.
Why did Ruttie leave her husband?
The account links the journey to a desire for companionship and personal space. Reddy depicts Ruttie as seeking a return to friendships and interests from an earlier part of her life, at a time when marriage and motherhood had altered her daily world. Those motives are the book’s interpretation of the episode, not a conclusion independently confirmed by the underlying correspondence here.
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Hyderabad also offered a practical reason for traveling without Jinnah. According to Reddy, the Nizam’s government had objected to a speech Jinnah made during an earlier visit and barred him from entering the city. The excerpt presents this reported ban as the reason Ruttie could go there without her husband joining her.
What does “Youth is going and I must live” mean?
Reddy uses the phrase to convey Ruttie’s sense that time and possibility were slipping away. The excerpt also attributes to her the feelings that “life is passing her by” and the plea, “Let me be free. Let me be free.” Read together, the lines frame the Hyderabad trip as a bid for freedom and a life beyond the roles pressing in on her.
These words reach readers through Reddy’s book excerpt, rather than through an original letter reproduced and independently checked here. They should therefore be understood as reported language in her account, not as verified verbatim correspondence.
How did Jinnah respond?
Reddy writes that Jinnah did not openly object while Ruttie was making plans, but later wrote to her and begged her to return. The excerpt attributes the account of that plea to a letter Padmaja wrote to her brother; the original letter is not reproduced in the excerpt. The episode, as presented, suggests strain, but it does not establish Jinnah’s private thoughts or provide enough evidence to characterize the trip as a final separation.
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Was this a permanent separation?
No permanent separation is described in Reddy’s account of this episode. It recounts Ruttie’s journey to Hyderabad to visit Padmaja, against the backdrop of marital strain and a changing family life. The excerpt’s interpretation of her attachment to her infant daughter, like its account of her motives, should be treated as the author’s reading rather than settled fact.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Where the account comes from
This episode is recounted in Sheela Reddy’s Mr and Mrs Jinnah: The Marriage that Shook India, in an excerpt published by Scroll.in on February 15, 2017. The excerpt is a secondary narrative; it identifies correspondence and other details but does not reproduce the original documents needed to verify every quotation or event independently. The book is the natural next read for those who want Reddy’s fuller account.
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