LAHORE: Many enlightening memories from Sahir Ludhianvi’’s life in Lahore were traced and presented in session at 50th Thaap Talk, entitled ‘Sahir Ludhianvi’s Lahore, Lahore’s Sahir Ludhianvi” held at Thaap in Gulberg on Friday evening.

Raza Naeem, a translator and literary activist, presented extracts from his research on six years of Sahir’s life in Lahore from 1943 to 1949. He gave an insight into the poet’s life, residence at Abbott Road near Lakshmi Chowk, lifestyle and philosophy of life. Raza mentioned the struggle behind publishing his first poetry collection ‘Talkhiyan’ which later became the best seller.

Sahir Ludhianvi, one of the key figures of Progressive Writers Association, passed a very tempestuous and emotional time in Lahore until 1949, two years after the Partition. The city gave Sahir his debut poetry collection Talkhiyan, Amrita Pritam’s love while his bonding with peers like A. Hameed, Ibn-e-Insha, Fikar Taunsvi, Qateel Shefai, Hameed Akhtar and Sadaat Hasan Manto remained integral part of Sahir’s nostalgia during his life in Bombay where he was a leading lyricist.

Naeem described that Sahir came to Lahore at the age of 21 when he was expelled from college in Ludhiana over romance with a girl. Young and heartbroken Sahir headed to Lahore, the capital of undivided Punjab. Sahir stayed with A. Hameed, Ibn-e-Insha, Fikar Taunsvi at Abbott Road. Although his poems were quite popular, nobody was ready to publish his poetry collection. Naeem said Gurbakhsh Singh, editor of Savera, published a pocket edition of Sahir’s first collection ‘Talkhiyan’ which became an instant hit. (Singh was actually editor of Preet Larri that published Talkhiyan).

Raza Naeem also narrated the incident of Sahir’s first meeting with musician RD (Rahul Dev) Burman after his migration to India in which Burman showed him the pocket edition of Talkhiyan.

Published in Dawn, May 22nd, 2022