The content creator Maray Bhai 100 (@maraybhai100) uploads reels that resemble no other in the prolific world of Pakistani memes.

Pakistani memes, like their Indian cousins, are brilliant nuggets of self-reflective humour, and reached their true genius during the recent skirmish between India and Pakistan. Maray Bhai’s reels have more in common with the existential Theatre of the Absurd than the usual amusing reels.

They are off-the-wall, pure chaos beginning in a calm pseudo-scientific tone, using Google Maps and the Solar Smash app, as if about to offer a solution to regional crises. They soon derail into an existential distraction, as the lines he draws over countries turn into doodles of animals or people. Behind the levity, there is the shadow of real regional issues, and the existential threat of war and nuclear annihilation.

The Theatre of the Absurd describes plays written in the aftermath of WWII that reflected a chaotic and illogical world, where one accepts, with sarcastic laughter, a world without purpose and without meaning. Its precursor, Dada Art, emerged from the despair of WWI, also depicting an absurd nonsensical world of chance,........

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