NEW DELHI, May 23 -- Migrants descending in Delhi from hinterlands of India mostly learn to bypass yearnings of the heart to survive callous settings of a city. Some, however, manage to ride the moorings of their heart to carve an accomplished corner in the pantheon of poets, prose writers and playwrights. Irshad Khan 'Sikandar', a rising poet, lyricist, dramatist and storywriter was among this rare specimen.

He penned the ache of life and his own unhealed heart before the same heart failed him on May 18, aged 42, exactly when his admirers were expecting his next offering.

Irshad hailed from East UP and thus Bhojpuri was his first language. He soon mastered its literary finesse and began to voice vagaries of life in verse. He never shar...