11204 7 Dishonouring his legacy: Sahir Ludhianvi’s handwritten notes, letters, poems and photographs were found from a scrap shop in 2019 in Mumbai Renu Sud Sinha Born Abdul Hayee a hundred years ago, he called himself Sahir (meaning sorcerer, wizard, enchanter and magician) when the world started taking note of the magic of his words. As was the literary tradition those days, like Urdu poets Majrooh (Sultanpuri), Josh (Malihabadi), Firaq (Gorakhpuri), Daag (Dehlvi), he added the city of his birth as takhallus (pen-name) and a magician was born. In the preface to his book, ‘Sahir: A Literary Portrait’ (2019), Surinder Deol calls him ‘a mystery wrapped in an enigma’.