Shimmy and Shake

In February 2005,Nicolas Wild,32,found himself in Kabul,employed by an international media organisation to write a comic book series for Afghan children.

French comic book artist Nicolas Wild visits Kabul and discovers a different kind of nightlife

In February 2005,Nicolas Wild,32,found himself in Kabul,employed by an international media organisation to write a comic book series for Afghan children. The temperature at night was minus 15 degrees and outside,the night air was replete with kidnapping threats and suicide bombers. Wild learnt to wear the Pakol (the Afghan hat),travelled across Afghanistan,and discovered that in Kabul,some parties are political and some dissolute. What followed is a hilarious but honest series of graphic reportage titled Kabul Disco (HarperCollins,Rs 325).

In Delhi as part of Litteratures: A French Festival of Letters,Wild chuckles about an earlier visit when he had less money in his pocket and no halo of fame. “I first came to India 10 years ago to backpack in Rajasthan. Again in 2003,I found a job teaching computers in an orphanage at Mahabalipuram,” says Wild.

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“The actual title of the book is Kabul Disco: How I did not get kidnapped by the Taliban,” he adds . Wild’s panels are in black and white,neat and he relies on his text as much as he does on his art work. Kabul Disco is funny,irreverent,but captures the expat experience in the war-torn city. “I discovered a thriving expat culture in the city. It was unreal to be a part of parties and nightlife,and facilities that were not available elsewhere in the country,” says Wild.

He said he found Kabul to be peaceful. “The city is protected by the army and apart from a few curfews,kidnappings and occasional explosions,it was like any other place,” says Wild,who worked there for nearly two years.

The sequel,titled Kabul Disco 2: How I didn’t become an Opium addict in Afghanistan,is already available in Europe. “Ninety percent of Europe’s opium comes from Afghanistan and there’s a huge nexus at work involving farmers,the government officials and more,” says Wild who is working on a new novel,based in Paris and Tehran,about an Iranian man living in France. “It is a work of fiction,well almost,I couldn’t help drawing myself in it,” laughs Wild.

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