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Urdunama

Urdunama

Written by: The Quint
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About this listen

 Bollywood songs turn us all into Grammy award-winning bathroom singers! But wait, do you know the meaning of every word you sing? Especially the ones in Urdu? On Urdunama, our host Fabeha Syed takes one word at a time and breaks it down for you. Be it the protest poetry of Faiz, or Sameer's 90s nostalgia, we have it all. If you like Urdu and poetry, this podcast is for you!2024 The Quint Art
Episodes
  • Love With 'Ikhlas': Beyond the Valentine Glow | Urdunama Podcast

    Love With 'Ikhlas': Beyond the Valentine Glow | Urdunama Podcast
    Feb 14 2026
    In Valentine’s month, we are drawn to a picture-perfect version of love that is warm, dazzling, and effortless. Yet real love asks for more than beauty. It calls for ikhlaas meaning pure intention to be sincere and have honest devotion that persists even when the glow fades. True love thrives in patience, understanding, and care, beyond grand gestures and fleeting romance.In this episode, we draw wisdom from literary masters like Ahmad Faraz, Rahat Indori, and Jaun Elia, celebrating a sincerity that holds the courage to love, to be loved, and ultimately, to become love itself. Tune in. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    11 mins
  • Junoon in Urdu Poetry: Meaning, Madness, and Purpose

    Junoon in Urdu Poetry: Meaning, Madness, and Purpose
    Jan 24 2026
    Junoon is often translated as passion or madness, but in Urdu poetry it carries layered, sometimes conflicting meanings. For poets like Mirza Ghalib, junoon is dangerous if exposed or fully unpacked. It then becomes a force so raw that it can undo the self. If Ghalob's junoon is intense, self-aware, and often destructive, poets like Ahmad Faraz and Ameer Qazalbash later engage with the same intensity differently. Where Ghalib is wary of junoon’s excess, they explore what happens when that intensity is held with awareness and direction when madness becomes purposeful rather than consuming.This episode traces that shift in from junoon, from a volatile force that must remain partially veiled, to junoon as a creative energy that can transform darkness into light. Junoon, in the end, is not one thing. It is a risk and sometimes, a possibility. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    16 mins
  • When Hard Work Isn’t Enough: Mehnat in Everyday Life and Poetry

    When Hard Work Isn’t Enough: Mehnat in Everyday Life and Poetry
    Jan 11 2026
    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. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    14 mins
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Easy listening, flowed well between hindustani, urdu and hindi. always keeps the audience engaged.

Interesting definitely

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Beautiful rendition of this beautiful language.
Fabiya nicely explains difficult words with modern context. The background music gels with the poetry. The selection of poetry is also very interesting.

Beautifully presented

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it's sweet and beautiful. Also a place to learn a few popular Urdu words. I have been listening to it since episode 1.

Love the content, and the delivery.

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