Goat Days (Aadujeevitham) by Benyamin | Harison Xavier

Book Cover 

 This is not a book review, I want to share what I learned from the book Goat Days written by Benyamin. I was not interested in novels or stories. Novels had a bad vibe when I was a kid. I have heard elders saying that if you read novels, you will fail in life, they were talking about the weekly magazine novels. Somehow "novel equals failure" got recorded in my mind. So I would mostly concentrate on non fictions. 

I came across the book Goat Days "Aadujeevitham" back in 2013, when one of my friend brought it to our room. He told me it is a true story of  life of  a man named Najeeb Muhammed,  emigrant gone to work in Saudi Arabia. Najeeb's dream was to work in the Persian Gulf states and earn enough money to send back home. But, life took a U-turn when he reached Saudi Arabia, he was forced into salve labor by a brutal master  and the story goes by a series of incidents into a slave like existence herding goats in the middle of the Saudi desert. I couldn't finish that book back then. Now since I got one I finished reading it in 2 days. 

From the left Benyamin and Najeeb 

Najeeb's story is now a movie  Aadujeevitham  directed by Blessy.

I do not wish to tell the full story here, before I tell you about what I have learned from this book, I want to let you know that this is a must read story. This book gave me a new view to life. Without further due, let me get to the topic. 

The word "Aadujeevitham" means "The goat life" or  living like a goat. This title got my interest, I knew there is some great life lesson I can learn from it. This is what made me read the book.  

1. Hope 

Remember the character Red played by Morgan Freeman , in the movie The Shawshank Redemption saying  "Hope is a bad thing"? . Now I see why he said that, after all the years of waiting for an escape or a parole from the prison, Red lost all his hope to go back to normal life. 

So does Najeeb, in this story, he lived with the goats, like one of them, he called every goat by name, ate and slept with them. At times we can see him loosing all his hopes and living like a mentally challenged man. But deep down there was always a desire to escape his suffering. He often dreamed for a life outside this slavery. 

Always have a hope inside you, always remember no matter what, someday you will see the light. 

"Hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things and no good thing ever dies" -  Andy Dufresne. 

2. Home, Family, Friends 

This is something that is close to heart. The time we could spend with our family and friends. Even I am an immigrant, staying far away from home in a different state. It's been long since I saw my family and friends, I miss them so much. I want to go talk to them, walk with them go out together. 

The last time I spend time with them is all a memory now. I am longing to feel the love and care again. I wish to be with them now. 

Here in the story, Najeeb left to Saudi Arabia for a job, leaving behind his mom and pregnant wife, thinking about it, I wondered how cruel can life be. If he had a better job here, he could have been with them all the time, he would have never missed his family. Throughout the story he dreams about his wife and the kid he have never seen. This makes me see how important is our time with our family, we would never now when it will be the last too. 

Spend more time with family and friends. Make each moments with them special. Let them know that you love them.   

3. Mom's Cooking

Najeeb was forced to eat raw bread and drink salty water that came in a tanker. That was is breakfast, lunch and dinner for all 3 + years of slavery . I felt so sad, if anyone have ever lived in a men's or women's hostel India, you would know the value of home made food, especially cooked by our mom. How delicious it is? If we don't like the food in the hostel we have an option to eat out. 

  I miss my mom's cooking. I wish to go home someday, and sit with her to eat anything that she prepares. I just want to see her again. Mom's are super star master chefs when it comes to cooking, nobody can beat their cooking.

Now here is a man who is isolated from all humans, in the middle of the dessert living with goats and all he can eat is raw bread all three times a day.  Its unimaginable. I don't know how he lived all these years like that. Comparing to him my pain is small. 

Savor the food we eat. It is one of the greatest gifts we could enjoy everyday. There are millions who dream to get what we have now.

 4. A Human Touch

Last December (2019), one of my friend came to visit me. He was here in search of a job, we are meeting after almost a year. On seeing me he hugged. That's when I realized, its been very long since I experienced a human touch, outside I am a cheerful guy, I do talk to people and spend time with them. But deep down there was always someone who wished for a deeper interaction. 

The hug I experienced reminded me, I am here, I am alive, I am needed, I do exist, I do matter. 
A human touch is not a silly thing. Touch is necessary for mind healing, which is utilized by licensed psychologists to cure patients to recover from any trauma, memories of physical assaults, suicidal tendencies,other allied problems. So I was getting healed. I wish I could be healed like this everyday. 

Here in the story Najeeb have never seen anyone other than his master. Once he went running towards the tanker truck which came to fill the water tank in the farm. He took every chance he got to touch the driver on his hands while helping him fill the tanks. A life without much human interaction or touch, that is just hell.  

5. Nothing is Permanent 

After reading the book, the first thing I searched was Where is Najeeb now. What is he doing? In a recent interview with an youtuber, najeeb explains his story and how his story got published. At the time of  writing this Najeeb is still working in,  Bahrain as an immigrant worker, but have a better job. Even after working so hard and suffering all this he still have to work in a foreign country to support his family. 

I hope someday, all his sufferings will payoff and he will be able to have a comfortable and happy life. Like Charlie Chaplin once said nothing is permanent in this world, not even our troubles. 

Najeeb's story is now a film  Aadujeevitham  directed by Blessy awaiting for release soon. Prithviraj, who plays the central character Najeeb Mohammed, has shed around 30 kilos for the perfection of his character in the movie. Aadujeevitham will mark the comeback of AR Rahman, the Academy award-winning musician to Malayalam cinema after a long gap of 2 decades.

The End.

Link to the interview, The interview with Najeeb is in Malayalam language, so not suitable for non Malayalam speakers.