MUMBAI: The Urdu feminist writer Ismat Chughtai once recalled meeting a young poet in Moscow. "He isn't the usual betel-chewing, kurta-pyjama-clad poet. He is smartly dressed and can dance with the girls," she remarked.

Non-conformist in his views and dress, the Urdu poet Ahmed Faraz, died battling kidney failure at a hospital in Islamabad on Monday. He was 77. A staunch champion of Indo-Pak friendship, Faraz was among the peaceniks who chose human bonding over geographical boundaries. Nothing sums up his post-Partition separation from us better than his own couplet: "Ab ke bichchde hain to shayad kabhi khwabon mein mile, Jis tarah sookhe hue phool kitabon mein mile (After this separation, we may meet only in our dreams, Like wilted flowers within the pages of a book)."

A globe-trotting bard, Faraz touched the hearts of many lovers of poetry with his simple, everyday diction and themes that common man could relate to. " Aur tujhe chahiye kitni mohabbatein Faraz/Maon ne apne bachche ka naam tere naam pe rakh diya (How much love and affection do you crave Faraz?/Mothers have named their children after you)," is how he once affectionately described his following.

"He was known not just for mushairas but as a significant poet of our era. After Faiz Ahmed Faiz and Sahir Ludhianvi, Ahmed Faraz took the Urdu ghazal to new heights," says poet-lyricist Nida Fazli who shared the stage with Faraz at least a dozen times, the last being at Darbhanga in Bihar.