Nadeem F. Paracha
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Nadeem Farooq Paracha (Urdu: ندیم فاروق پراچہ), (born November 9, 1967, in Karachi), is a controversial Pakistani journalist, cultural critic, satirist and short story writer. He also writes as Nadeem F. Paracha or simply as “NFP."
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[edit] Early life
His father, Farooq Paracha, was a Socialist journalist hailing from the Attock district (Makhad) in the north of the Punjab and a staunch supporter of the Pakistan Peoples Party(PPP).
Nadeem F. Paracha received his early education at the Kabul American School in Afghanistan from 1970 till 1974. His father was based as a journalist in Kabul reporting for the pro-PPP Urdu daily, Musawaat.
Nadeem F. Paracha returned to Pakistan in 1974 and joined the prestegious Karachi Grammar School from where he completed his O'Levels in 1983. He was however asked to leave after being caught using drugs.He then joined Saint Patricks Government College in 1984 from where he did his Bachelors degree in Commerce in 1986. It was here that he actively joined student politics, first by joining the left-wing National Students Federation and then forming the St. Pats Socialist Students Federation. He was arrested a number of times for agitating against the right-wing government of General Zia and for writing and distributing anti-state literature.
After leaving college, Paracha traveled to India for many months. This was also the first time he got addicted to narcotic drugs. He returned to Pakistan and joined the University of Karachi as a Masters student of Political Science in 1988. He vigorously resumed his political activities by joining the left-wing Democratic Students Federation. He also started writing a column on campus politics for the Star. This got him into a number of clashes with the right-wing politico-religious student groups.
At the fall of the Berlin Wall and of Communism in the former Soviet Union, Paracha started calling himself an Anarchist and with a few college friends began publishing an underground anarchist newsletter called The Arousal. Mostly written by Paracha, the paper started out by aggressively mocking and attacking politico-religious parties and personalities, feudal and capitalist interests and the many quasi-fascist ethnic parties that had sprung up in the 1980s. It was here that Paracha started to develop his distinct style of writing that was a mixture of mock ranting, madcap humor and early dadaist literature. After being harassed and clamped down by the authorities, he dissolved The Arousal and joined Mag, Pakistan’s largest English weekly magazine, as a feature-writer.
[edit] The Journalist
After working three years for Mag and already bagging a sizable following for his sarcastic and angry tirades against the powers that be, Paracha was asked to leave after he wrote a scathing feature against one of Pakistan’s biggest politico-religious parties, the Jamaat-e-Islami, accusing them of using funds for the Afghan jihad to meet their needs for the 1993 general elections that were won by the Pakistan Peoples Party. After a stint as a Concept Writer in various Advertising agencies, Paracha was coaxed by his mentor, Imran Aslam, to join The The News International, Karachi, of which Imran was Editor. Paracha joined as editor of the paper’s popular culture page, Vibes, and columnist.
[edit] The Iconoclast
In the late 1990s , halied as a bohemian youth icon,[1] and at the peak of his career and fame, Paracha dejected and rejecting the country’s electronic and print media as being “a culmination of cynical sell-outs" and "pompous catwalk intellectuals” quit writing and became a deluded recluse. This was also when he again started to have major problems with narcotic addiction.
After spending almost four years secluded and in narcotic wilderness, Paracha returned to writing in 2003 after suffering a now cured drug habit and a mental breakdown.
He is currently associated with Pakistan's leading English daily, The News International and writes a regular column on the popular South Asian site www.chowk.com. Though now in his late 30s, Paracha is still notorious for his iconoclastic style and attitude and remains to be as elusive and reclusive as ever. Apart from his pieces on culture, music and society, his short stories and novelettes on Chowk.com have also gained a strong following, especially those interested in astute social and political satire and experimental writing. His novellete Acidity written for Chowk has become a controversial cyber cult classic in both India and Pakistan.
There are some special NFP pages on the net and orkut mostly run by Bandbaja and TV host and journalist Fasi Zaka and a few others.
[edit] The Recluse
Though a high profile writer with a large cult following, Paracha has largely remained withdrawn from all events taking place within the country’s music and cultural scene. He is known to be a committed recluse and somewhat unfathomable. This has given birth to a number of theories about his eccentric behavior and beliefs, some of which have been a favorite topic on various music related forums.Since Paracha only rarely gives interviews, he has never commented much on these theories, but very rarely has he ever denied them as well.
He has always been known to be a Marxist and then an anarchist. However, in a recent interview he gave to a cultural website, WeCite.com, he said that he was always, and still is, nothing more than an “old fashioned Socialist,” even though in an earlier interview he did point out that he had been associated with various Marxist student groups and at least one anarchist concern, as a student in the eighties. [2]
Paracha has only rarely commented on the politics of his student life but is known more for his activism for Marxist student groups and his agitation as a student leader against the Zia-ul-Haq dictatorship and against the various conservative pro-Zia Islamist student parties.[3]
The majority of the theories about Paracha however revolve around his association with drugs. Throughout the nineties he was accused by some well known but conservative pop stars and their fans for promoting drug use, especially cannabis, through his articles. Paracha was also said to be a heavy user of both hard drugs (heroin) and soft drugs (cannabis).[4].
This is another area Paracha had never commented upon until recently in an interview when he talked in some length about the problems he had in the nineties with drugs and addiction. This was also the time when due to the notorious nature of his lifestyle and secretive personality, many of his readers were convinced that he had quietly died.[5]
However, he returned in 2003 free from his addictions, which he said almost killed him. [6]
Even though praised by his fans and detractors alike for his distinct writing style and knowledge, many have accused him of being insensitive and dogmatic in his written attacks usually aimed at celebrities with conservative views and strong religious beliefs. [7]
They accuse him of imposing his atheistic views and being overtly sarcastic and caustic about people who talk openly about their religious beliefs, especially celebrities who make religious statements through their art.
Even though widely considered a non-believer, Paracha has never commented about his religious beliefs or lack of it.
Another area Paracha has gotten into trouble for is his continuing criticism against corporate sponsorship in the country’s music scene. He was the first writer to highlight this trend, so much so that his writings actually inspired a strong anti-sponsorship underground music scene in the mid-nineties. [8]
However, he has been critical of the current underground scene, criticizing it for being “aimless” and without having any worthwhile ideology. [9]
His staunch anti-corporate stance contributed a lot into turning him into a rebellious figurehead personality for a number of young Pakistanis, but when on his return from addiction and hibernation in 2003, he was criticized for continuing to mock and “humiliate” large corporate organizations and pop stars on the corporate sponsorship issue but at same time being involved in the conceptualizing and making of vivid advertising campaigns for companies like Telenor and their youth brand, djuice. [10] [11]
In spite of all the controversies and ambiguity that have revolved around Paracha, he continues to be hailed as a respected force and pioneering writer in the world of Pakistan’s cultural journalism and music industry. [12]
Though known to be an active anti-Zia activist during college and an opinionated leftist journalist in the nineties, he shocked many of his fans by openly supporting and praising General Pervez Musharraf in 2004.
[edit] The Works
Nadeem F. Paracha is famous for contributing some important historical and analytical work regarding Pakistan's modern popular culture. His articles are often referred to by most Pakistani and Indian writers and publications whenever they want to find social insights and facts about the social and political dynamics of Pakistan's popular culture. A lot of pieces Paracha did for The News International and Weekly Mag in the early and middle nineties is not available on the net and thus old copies of these articles are valued a lot by his fans.
[edit] Quotes
"The truth is I hate the current idea of journalism in Pakistan. All the top magazines and papers are using articles as fillers... to fill the space left or not bought by advertisers. They want ads, not articles. Especially not the sort which directly or indirectly mock this practice, or threaten the paper's chances of getting all the juicy ads. Adnauseum is no more a cheesy pun. It is a sickening, cynical and unchallenged reality."
"Art should never be an apology or a compromise on the grounds of helping feed its creators bourgeoisie habits and wants."
"Today it (the Pakistani & Indian pop scene) is much bigger and easily noticeable. But I can’t say if it is any better. Because it still lacks any worthwhile vision, or a method behind its rather maddening acceleration."
"To me Socialism still remains to represent and offer one of the noblest and most humanitarian social and economic ideals. Whether these are to be achieved through democracy or a benevolent dictatorship doesn’t bother me. I’ll settle for both, as long as Socialism is the end result."
"I tell you I’ve seen so many very promising young critics turn into PR mouthpieces for the artistes. If they are scared to offend, then they should be working for the Classified sections! The whole thing about being objective is just an excuse. It’s chickening out using an ethical pretense. Objectivity, my ass!"
"Reviews are not supposed to be so-called objective pieces. They are highly subjective musings of a person who knows a bit or two about the art that is being reviewed. This is what I find lacking in many of today’s young critics. Their reviews are like dull running commentaries in which songs are treated as furniture ..."
"My stories are not exactly yuppie wet-dreams. I find much of what is being glorified as ‘good fiction’ in India and Pakistan rather boring. But then what do I know. I read Batman comics and prefer to go through all sorts of encyclopedias with my popcorn!"
"I was getting attention rather unprecedented for a journalist in Pakistan. I became a rock star with a pen instead of a guitar ... By the late ‘90s (because of drugs) I was a total goner. Had been reduced to a 110 pound skeleton, locked up and now running away from the monster that was called ‘NFP’."
[edit] See also
- Pakistan Music Journalism
- NFP clones
- Paracha
- Acidity (Novelette)
- Graffiti Christ
- Cactus Gas
- Gabriel's Bike
- God Pulp
- The Arousal
- The News International
- Www.chowk.com
- Atish Raj
- National Students Federation
- Democratic Students Federation
- St. Pats Socialist Students Federation
- Socialism
- Anarchism
- Atheism
- Dadaism
- cut-up technique
- Fasi Zaka
- Sajid & Zeeshan
- Junoon
- Vital Signs
- Bandbaja
