Urdunama | When Hard Work Isn’t Enough: Mehnat in Everyday Life and Poetry

This episode pushes back against the idea that hard work always guarantees success.

Moving between everyday life and Urdu poetry, the episode pushes back against the idea that hard work always guarantees success.

(Photo: The Quint)

In this episode, we sit with the Urdu word 'mehnat' which is usually translated as 'hard work', but carrying far more tiredness, repetition, and lived experience. Moving between everyday life and Urdu poetry, the episode pushes back against the idea that hard work always guarantees success.

From the comforting language of motivational culture to the kind of labour that happens quietly, without visibility or reward, 'mehnat' here is effort that continues even when energy runs low and outcomes remain uncertain.

At the centre of the episode is Kaifi Azmi’s nazm Makan, which speaks directly to inequality, to those who build homes, palaces, and comfort for others, while having no place of rest themselves.
This is not a motivational talk. It’s a conversation about work that doesn’t shine, effort that isn’t applauded, and the kind of labour that changes life gradually, over time, rather than all at once. Tune in.