The Goats Of Bangladesh

NEW DELHI: Chances are that you are well aware of the sensation that is Humans Of New York. If you’re a keen follower, you are probably well acquainted with HONY’s multiple spinoffs -- Humans Of New Delhi, Humans Of Bombay, Humans Of Kabul, Humans Of London, Humans Of ... you get the drift. If you read The Citizen, then you may have even heard of the very creative “Cows Of Benaras.”

Well, now meet another HONY spin-off, and perhaps the best yet… The Goats Of Bangladesh.

The Facebook page features interviews with the most local of the locals in Dhaka… goats. “Dedicated to all the goats across the beautiful country of Bangladesh,” the page’s description reads, adding “Real Goats. Real Stories.”

The page was conceived almost a year ago, when Sadman Sakib Rahman was going through his Facebook feed and saw a post on the Humans of New York page. “I was interested in finding something with the same concept but for Bangladesh. Unfortunately I couldn't find anything which quite grasped the concept of HONY,” he recalled in an email interview with The Global Post. “So I thought about doing something similar to HONY but not a mockery of it yet having a different vibe to it.”

“I took a few nice pictures of a few goats in my camera and the goats seemed to appear with human-like expressions in the pictures and that's when I got the idea of Goats of Bangladesh,” Rahman explained.

The first post was a profile shot of a dark haired goat, accompanied by the line: “I've always wanted to be the finest lamb roast in my village.”

Since then, The Goats Of Bangladesh has rapidly grown, with almost 36,000 followers on Facebook. Posts routinely get thousands of likes and hundreds of shares. Here’s a sample:

"We all have a set of things to tell people who are going through different hardships in life. It's apart of basic ethics.

If someone is having a bad day, we know we're supposed to say, 'It'll get better. This is just a rough patch you're going through.'

If someone has had a heartbreak we know to say, 'You'll find someone better. They weren't worthy of you anyway.'

If someone seeks advice from us about their career paths we generally opt for the corny, 'do what you love', reference.

It's like we simply know what to say to everyone's scenario. That it'll happen just like how it does in the movies.

But what if we're wrong? What if it doesn't get better? What if your ex was and will always be the best thing to have ever happened to you? What if choosing a career that involves what you love won't bring happiness in your life, but just more financial problems?

What if we're all just bullshitting ourselves to make us feel better? I mean in that case, are we really accomplishing anything when we say it'll get better just for the heck of saying it?"

(Dhaka, Bangladesh)

"If all that feminism really wants is equality, why do its supporters have to be a separate brand? You are fighting for women's rights... so that they are EQUAL with men. You are an egalitarian.

There's no need to specify you're favoring women when in the end all you want is gender equality. But that's just my opinion."

(Dhaka, Bangladesh)

*goat whispering to herself*

"Good good, they'll never find my secret collection of four-leaf clovers here. They're mine, only minee, MUAHAHAHA"

"Huh?"

"Shit."

(Narsingdi, Bangladesh)

"Sometimes I get a little nervous with myself when I realize how much I've changed. Whether it would ever be possible to go back again.

But then sometimes I think, why should I? I've changed before, I am changed now, and I will change because that's how it is. These are all just phases. I might not like a few, but that doesn't necessarily mean I won't ever be better again. There's not enough time in this world to hate yourself, but there's an ample amount of time to reassess."

(Dhaka, Bangladesh) - Manatosh Chakma

"She doesn't understand my language, and I don't understand hers.

But with all the vocabulary we had, none were required to share what we had at that moment."

(Dhaka, Bangladesh) - Farhan Arno

"What are you doing in the dark?"

"Talking with an old friend."

"Who's that?"

"Darkness."

(Dhaka, Bangladesh) - Muhammad Sifat Khan

"Her sentences were icebergs. Only the tip of her thoughts came out through her mouth. The rest were kept underwater in the murky depths of her mind, which I started to think was more & more beautiful the longer I looked at her."

"Uhm... I haven't asked you anything yet."

"Oh."

(Dhaka, Bangladesh)

"I get an insecure vibe from humans who keep heavy beards as an active fashion statement. That whenever someone asks them why they have a beard they say it's because they're a real man.

I feel like they are very gender challenged and want validation from other humans to recognize them with the manliness they think they lack."

(Srimangal, Bangladesh) - Borhan Uddin

"Are you two dating?"

"You know what pisses me off? In this country two goats just cannot cut freely without people being inquisitive about it everywhere. We could be enjoying a nice stroll together on a field and there would be you sick people with your distorted minds thinking that two goats can't have any friendship other than a relationship. For all you know she could be my sister. When will you people get out of this mentality?"

"I'm extremely sorry if my question offended you in any way."

"No. This is absolutely unacceptable. Just leave us alone, you sicko."

As I turned around and started walking back, I overheard them saying:

"So, babe, where were we?"

"You wanted to know if I'm interested in Netflix and chill this weekend?"

(Dhaka, Bangladesh) - Nahin Mahmud