They, who pass through my alley in a palanquin,
Do not even allow the porters to change shoulders.
This Urdu couplet describes a powerful or impatient individual being carried in a palanquin through a street, so swiftly that the bearers are not even permitted to shift the burden from one shoulder to the other. The imagery powerfully conveys themes of urgency, social hierarchy, and the exacting demands of status in traditional South Asian society, highlighting the arduous labor of the kahars and the indifference or haste of the elite traveler.
the world's unfairness (shikwa) · wit & rebuke