Bhopal, May 28 -- Renowned Urdu poet and Padam Shri awardee Bashir Badr passed away at the age of 91 at his residence, Bashir Manzil in Bhopal, after prolonged illness, his family said.

"Bashir Sahib left us. Prayers," his wife, Rahat Badr, said in a social media post. He is survived by his wife and two children.

According to this family, he breathed his last in the room where he used to conduct poetic gatherings.

However, due to dementia, Badr had withdrawn from mushairas (poetic gatherings) but continued to meet his admirers even after losing his memory, his family said.

Born in Ayodhya, Uttar Pradesh on February 15, 1935, educated in Etawah and Aligarh, and later serving in Meerut, he eventually settled in Bhopal at Bashir Manzil i...