Graffiti Christ

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Graffiti Christ
Author	Nadeem F. Paracha
Country	Pakistan
Language	English
Genre(s)	Dystopian, Cyber, Satire
Publisher	www.chowk.com, Lucifer Opera
Publication date	2006
Media type	Print (none) - online novel
ISBN	None

Graffiti Christ is a collection of short stories written by controversial and reclusive Pakistani critic, journalist and writer, Nadeem F. Paracha. The stories were individually written between 2003 and 2005 for literary South Asian website, Chowk.com. These were then compiled under the title Graffiti Christ and launched online in July 2006.

[edit] The stories

The stories were written after Paracha’s Acidity (which was also written for Chowk and which was written using experimental writing tools such as the cut-up method and surrealist automatism) started gathering a strong cult following in the Subcontinent. The bizarre novelette is set in a future dystopia where religious fundamentalism and neo-conservative capitalism have been fused together into running a totalitarian regime in what were once India and Pakistan.

Acidity is a satirical comment on the post-Cold War happenings in India and Pakistan, where capitalism and religious bigotry have become stronger than ever after the fall of Communism and rise of globalization. Paracha had written the book while recovering from narcotic addiction in the late 90s.

The stories in Graffiti Christ are a continuation of the same theme and were written using the same writing tools, especially surrealist automatism, elements of the Theatre of the Absurd and black comedy.

Valves: This story takes place in what seems to be an observation lab run by extraterrestrials. The human subject who is suffering from severe depression and hysteria represents the emotional vulnerabilities of human beings in the face of modern urban economics and sociology imposed by the aliens. The aliens are the representation of modern politics and economics of Globalization and they seem totally helpless and cold when asked by the human to help him with his emotional problems.

Crowd Puller: This is an absurdist take on life, values and ethics of modern day Bollywood films and the escapist fantasies that they provide. The protagonist, a famous dancer living life like shown in many Bollywood films, rebels and wants to have a more meaningful life with her boyfriend. She is taunted and humiliated for trying to be more intelligent and realistic and ends up committing suicide to make her point. The suicide does not serve her husband any lesson; on the contrary, he becomes even more “filmish” (and thus unreal).

Cannabis Cinema: This is a tale of a group of Pakistani yuppies trying to grapple with the idea of cultural identity, religion and adultery. The whole story is packed with absurd scenarios resulting from the social and moral contradictions and religious conflicts that emerge from within the psyches of modern middleclass Pakistanis.

Floaters: This story comments on the religious radicalization of certain sections of educated young females in Pakistan and how psychological tensions emerging from the inner conflicts between modern sexual expectations and religious repression may cause some women to 'flip'.

Laps: Laps is a look at Freudian psychology and the concept of the Oedipus complex set in a modern 21st Century urban Pakistani setting.

God Pulp: A satirical look at atheism and religious belief. Set in a far future society in which the atheists are the humans and androids and robots are the believers. A representation of Paracha’s own atheistic perceptions of Islam and Hinduism in modern day India and Pakistan.

The Messiah Façade: A psychedelic prose dealing with the notion that the spiritual figures of all major religions created their concepts of God from hallucinations brought on by schizophrenia and drugs.

The Aftergod: A short play based on the Christian myth of the First War in Heaven, but taking place in a second such war in which both sides also include famous dead humans. It is a comment on the ideological cynicism, hypocrisy and realpolitik involved in wars supposedly fought for pure goals and noble aims.

Leaves & Meat: An absurdist play based on the dialogue between an agnostic environmentalist and the jaw of a dead jihadi.

Gabriel's Bike : Based on concepts such as ancient astronauts, time travel and the grandfather paradox, the story is a straight faced parody satirizing the concept of belief in the supernatural and how religious beliefs are quite the same as belief in fantastical theories about UFOs and aliens.