The Goats of Bangladesh, which made its début on Facebook in October 2014, is not quite as ambitious as Humans of New York, which originally set out to be an exhaustive catalogue of New York City’s inhabitants. In fact, as we found out, GOB takes its inspiration from a parody of the page they set out to mimic "in a mocking way", namely Pigeons of New York.
The nation, we figured, would definitely want to know more, and with the same spirit of enquiry that informs some, if not all, of our journalism, we set out to interview the people, if not the goats, behind this page. That they turned out to be school students might explain a lot, though we must admit that many of our queries remain unanswered. We share some of the responses from one of the admins of the page, who wanted to remain anonymous, which seemed understandable. Edited excerpts:
The idea behind the page?
We were bored one day during Eid and decided to take pictures of goats with a DSLR camera. After seeing the outcome of the pictures, one of us decided we would open a parody page called "Goats of Bangladesh" where we would mimic the style of posts made by Humans of New York in a mocking way. One of our inspirations for the page were Pigeons of New York – a similar page with the same motto in parodying Humans of New York.
Favourite post?
Earlier last year we received a stunning picture of a little slum boy next to a goat, and we wrote a heart warming story of his friendship with the goat. Speaking on behalf of the Goats of Bangladesh, I would pick that as our favourite post. For it really formed an odd satisfying connection between the people of our country and its goats.
Any post got that got you into trouble?
Not that I know of. We haven't upset anyone with our posts yet. Not saying it won't or can't happen, it will probably happen eventually. But thus far we have been safe.
How were these photographs taken?
It's very unorthodox and unplanned really. Whenever we are travelling, and come across something worthwhile, we take a photo. Sometimes we receive fan submissions in our inbox and if they make the cut we write something about them.
Why just goats of Bangladesh?
Because we feel Bangladesh has lost a lot of its colour and originality since the growth of Facebook in the country. Everyone is rushing forward to making the next big meme page or the next great rant page they can come up with tacky lines like "Moja Loss?" or "Tikase Bhaaaa?". We feel that it needs more, something greater than trolls, memes and funny pictures. So the idea for an entire page based on satirical comedy. And what could be better than a satirical comedy page about goats? Goats are cute, funny creatures that are sadly overlooked in our country, though they often find a reference in slang and cusses among locals. So we thought that they too deserve a page which portrays these animals in a brighter light, raise awareness and maybe help stop the abuse of these beings. The whole world loves goats, and they can be just as tame as dogs and cats.
Best comment ever received on the page?
The first time we read "You've goat to be kidding me", it hit us like a punchline. We thought it was a brilliantly sly comment on a page like this.
Besides running the page, what is it that you do on a daily basis?
We study, we're all in school, still doing our A levels. There's nothing better than a couple of hours in a park just sitting and thinking.
One parting message from your goats to the world?
Keep the goat spirit alive!
We welcome your comments at
letters@scroll.in.
The nation, we figured, would definitely want to know more, and with the same spirit of enquiry that informs some, if not all, of our journalism, we set out to interview the people, if not the goats, behind this page. That they turned out to be school students might explain a lot, though we must admit that many of our queries remain unanswered. We share some of the responses from one of the admins of the page, who wanted to remain anonymous, which seemed understandable. Edited excerpts:
The idea behind the page?
We were bored one day during Eid and decided to take pictures of goats with a DSLR camera. After seeing the outcome of the pictures, one of us decided we would open a parody page called "Goats of Bangladesh" where we would mimic the style of posts made by Humans of New York in a mocking way. One of our inspirations for the page were Pigeons of New York – a similar page with the same motto in parodying Humans of New York.
Favourite post?
Earlier last year we received a stunning picture of a little slum boy next to a goat, and we wrote a heart warming story of his friendship with the goat. Speaking on behalf of the Goats of Bangladesh, I would pick that as our favourite post. For it really formed an odd satisfying connection between the people of our country and its goats.
Any post got that got you into trouble?
Not that I know of. We haven't upset anyone with our posts yet. Not saying it won't or can't happen, it will probably happen eventually. But thus far we have been safe.
How were these photographs taken?
It's very unorthodox and unplanned really. Whenever we are travelling, and come across something worthwhile, we take a photo. Sometimes we receive fan submissions in our inbox and if they make the cut we write something about them.
Why just goats of Bangladesh?
Because we feel Bangladesh has lost a lot of its colour and originality since the growth of Facebook in the country. Everyone is rushing forward to making the next big meme page or the next great rant page they can come up with tacky lines like "Moja Loss?" or "Tikase Bhaaaa?". We feel that it needs more, something greater than trolls, memes and funny pictures. So the idea for an entire page based on satirical comedy. And what could be better than a satirical comedy page about goats? Goats are cute, funny creatures that are sadly overlooked in our country, though they often find a reference in slang and cusses among locals. So we thought that they too deserve a page which portrays these animals in a brighter light, raise awareness and maybe help stop the abuse of these beings. The whole world loves goats, and they can be just as tame as dogs and cats.
Best comment ever received on the page?
The first time we read "You've goat to be kidding me", it hit us like a punchline. We thought it was a brilliantly sly comment on a page like this.
Besides running the page, what is it that you do on a daily basis?
We study, we're all in school, still doing our A levels. There's nothing better than a couple of hours in a park just sitting and thinking.
One parting message from your goats to the world?
Keep the goat spirit alive!
