Daily dose of laughter and a multitude of memories; Mohd Faisal has touched many hearts all over the country with his Garbage Bin gags. “When we started in Dec 2011, we never thought that this is going to be so big”, he says. Youth Ki Awaaz got a chance to interview the artist.
How did the idea of Garbage Bin come to you?
I started making gags as a stress buster in Geek Mentors Studios which I co-founded with my friend Shah Nawaz, while we used to work on Games. I started to share the gags within my friend list on Facebook before I started the Garbage Bin page. This is how Garbage Bin started.
I am really curious, why is the page called ‘Garbage Bin’?
When I was about to begin this page I couldn’t think of a name for it. And personally, I feel that my artwork is not up to that mark. I didn’t want to name my page with a clean tag. So I came up with this name.
How do you manage to come up with such wonderful gags which seem to strike a chord with everyone? Is it sheer observation or your personal childhood memories?
It is a combination of both actually. In the early days of Garbage Bin, I used to talk a lot about the past and current incidents with my friends in the office, out of which some of them are gags now. But as the time passed I started to feel that people love gags which they relate to their own life.
Do you think Facebook is THE platform for creative ventures such as yours considering its virality?
There is no doubt about the fact that Social media has become essential part when it comes to making any content go viral, and amongst all other tools, Facebook and Twitter are more powerful than the rest.
You started in 2011 and have close to 3 lakh followers now. Is the happiness that comes with every like, comment and share the driving force behind making a new gag every day?
When we started in Dec 2011, we never thought that this is going to be so big; sometimes it becomes very challenging to come up with a gag that people love. And yes, comments, messages, and likes always motivate me to go on.
Talks in IIT Delhi and Garbage Bin books, you seem to have come a long way. How does that feel?
I have got so many invitations from different IITs, IIMs and many other colleges to conduct workshops. I feel blessed and honoured and try to attend as many as I can.
You seem to have been a victim of plagiarism quite a number of times. How do you react to this?
There is a lot of plagiarism, but I really don’t care. I prefer to make gags rather arguing with the people who are doing this.
You have certainly become a force to be reckoned with. Do you have a message for all the budding cartoonists out there?
I don’t think that I’ve achieved that level where I can give messages to aspiring cartoonists, but hard work and passion always do the magic for you.