As she entered her late teens she was called "The Flower of Bombay" by the city's high society, many of which were frequent guests in her father's home.

[3] The Petits were an extremely anglicized family that strove to be fully British in manner, dress, language, diet, and customs.

Ruttie's father would shower her with gifts of books, clothes, pets, sweets, gourmet meals, and vacations to Europe or other parts of India where they owned homes.

Sir Dinshaw’s only sister, Humabai, after having gone to a French boarding school in Nice for her baccalaureate, was still single at twenty-nine and not an eyebrow was raised.

Despite the tensions within the family, they could hardly give her coming-of-age birthday a miss, and a grand banquet was held on the occasion at the Taj Mahal Hotel in Mumbai.

She calmly informed the gathering that she had accepted a proposal of marriage from Jinnah, and that they would be married shortly; she asked the audience to wish them joy.

She sat down to thundering silence, but despite the palpable outrage and opposition, a matter which had become so public could not be undone, and Ruttie could not be persuaded to change her mind.

Furthermore, most Parsi youth of Ruttie's age from wealthy families at the time were either indifferent to religion or full-blown atheists, and their parents did precious little to educate them religiously.

After the marriage of Jinnah and Ruttie, it was the final straw and the conservative Parsis and mobeds called for all of their youth to be religiously re-educated.

Her family chose the latter, but Lady Dinshaw strove to be a part of her granddaughter's life, and was able to do so after Ruttie and Jinnah separated.

[3] The Jinnahs resided mainly at South Court Mansion in Malabar Hill, a stone's throw from Petit Hall.

In addition to the estrangement from her own family, Ruttie was also ex-communicated from the Parsi Community with extraordinary measures and censure, and a complete ostracization from their social gatherings.

They made for a head-turning couple, not just because they looked an unlikely mismatched pair, but also because Ruttie aspired to define the acme of fashion and money was absolutely no object.

Her long hair would be decked in fresh flowers, she wore vibrant silks and chiffons, accentuated by headbands and tiaras lavish with diamonds, rubies and emeralds.

Despite this, Jinnah doted on his childlike bride and indulged her every wish, and she was likewise content to be pampered by her beloved husband whom she called “J”.

In an attempt to make way for the new bride, Fatima was initially bundled off to another sister's home, but later had come to spending her Sundays at the Jinnah residence at South Court.

[12][13] By mid-1922, Jinnah was facing political isolation (almost reflecting Ruttie's own ex-communication from the Parsi Community), as he devoted every spare moment to be the voice of separatist incitement in a nation torn by Hindu-Muslim antipathy.

In early 1928, she moved into a suite at Bombay's Taj Mahal Palace Hotel, leaving Jinnah home with eight-year-old Dina.

Jinnah was in Delhi at the time, so he didn't find out about his wife's death until his father-in-law called him from Bombay to inform him that Ruttie had died.

[12] Further, in an irony of sorts, his own stance on inter-faith and inter-community marriages was challenged when his daughter Dina decided to marry the Parsi industrialist Neville Wadia.

"[17] Muhammad Ali Jinnah is seen as a very private person who hardly showed his emotions, but he is known to have wept twice in public, and both occasions were connected to Ruttie.