Goat Days

The book is divided into four parts (Prison, Desert, Escape and Refuge).

Najeeb Muhammad, the protagonist of the novel, a young man from Arattupuzha in Haripad of the Kerala state, is newly married and dreams of a better work in any of the Persian Gulf states. After several endeavours, he finally sets foot in Saudi Arabia. However, at the King Khalid International Airport, Riyadh he gets trapped and is taken away by a rich Arab cattle farm supervisor to look after his farm. He is being used as a slave labourer and shepherd and is assigned to tend goats, sheeps and camels for almost three and half years in the remote deserts of Saudi Arabia. He is forced to do backbreaking work, kept him half-hungry and is denied water to wash and suffers unimaginably. The farm's brutal supervisor keeps Najeeb in control with a gun and binoculars and frequently beats him with a belt.

In a country where he doesn't know the language, places or people, he is far away from any human interaction. Najeeb steadily starts to identify himself with the goats. He considers himself as one of them. His dreams, desires, avenges and hopes starts to become one with them. He talks to them, eats with them, sleeps with them and virtually lives the life of a goat. Still he keeps a ray of hope which will bring freedom and end to his sufferings some day.

Finally one night with the help of Ibrahim Khadiri, a Somalian worker in the neighbouring farm, Najeeb Muhammed and his friend Hakeem escapes from the horrible life to freedom. But, the trio fumbles across the desert for days, and young Hakeem dies of thirst and fatigue. Finally, Ibrahim Khadiri and Najeeb manage to find their way to Al-Bathaa , Riyadh, where Najeeb gets himself arrested by the civil police in order to get deported to India. Najeeb gets detained in the Sumesi Prison for several months before being deported to India by the Saudi Arabian authorities.

• Najeeb Muhammed (Prisoner Number 13858 at Sumesi Prison, Saudi Arabia), the protagonist of the novel, spent three and half years (4 April 1992 – 13 August 1995) in a remote farm in the Saudi Arabian desert. Originally a sand miner from Arattupuzha in Haripad,[10] he is given the visa by a Karuvatta-based friend for ₹30,000 (equivalent to ₹190,000 or US$2,600 in 2019) as a helper in a construction company in Saudi Arabia. Najeeb Muhammed is a real life character.
• Hakeem is a young man, who got trapped under another Arab and lives a life similar to Najeeb. He joins Najeeb to elope from the desert, however, surrenders before death due to hunger and thirst in their perilous journey through the Arabian Desert.
• Ibrahim Khadiri
• Arab owner
• Hameed
• Kunjikka
• Sainu

Najeeb receiving the first copy of Aadujeevitham from poet Kuzhur Wilson (left) in 2008.
Author Benyamin on the right.

Recounting his meeting with the real-life Najeeb, Benyamin reminisces:

But when I heard his tale, I knew this was the story I was waiting to tell the world and I knew this had to be told. Usually we only hear of stories of success from the Gulf. But I wanted to talk about the many who lead lives of suffering and pain.

The reluctant Najeeb who wanted to forget his past had to be coaxed to recount his story.[2]

The original book was published by Green Books Private Limited, Thrissur on 15 July 2008. The English translation of the novel for Penguin Books was carried out by Joseph Koyippally, a literature professor in the Central University of Kerala.[2][11][12]

It has been translated into Arabic (titled Ayyamul Maayiz, published by Maktabat Aaafaaq, Kuwait) by Indian expatriate Suhail Wafy working as Arabic translator in Doha, Qatar. The translations into Tamil, Kannada and Hindi are due for release.[4]

It has been translated to Odiya (titled Chheli Chareibara Dina "ଛ୍ହେଳି ଚରେଇବାର ଦିନ" by Gourahari Das. The book was published by Friend's Publication, Odisha.

Goat Days has been translated into Nepali by Dinesh Kafle, a Nepali translator and literary critic based in New Delhi. Titled "Khabuj" in Nepali, it was published to a wide critical acclaim in August 2015 by FinePrint, a Kathmandu-based publisher.

Director Blessy had announced that he would be making a film based on the book, titled Aadujeevitham. However, the author noted, "We are still in the discussion stage. Our plans for a film had to be postponed when we realised that its production cost would not be feasible for a Malayalam film. Now we are planning something on a larger scale and Prithviraj Sukumaran will play Najeeb's role.[2] "

However, in late 2017, Blessy had confirmed the eponymous film adaptation of the book as a Malayalam film. After months of speculation, in January 2018 composer A. R. Rahman confirmed in a press conference that he is making a comeback to Malayalam cinema as a composer with the film.[13][14]

• Aadujeevitham (film)
• Arabikkatha
• Gaddama
• Jhumpa Lahiri
• Bharati Mukerjee

• Goat Days at Penguin Books official website
• Buy Aadujeevitham Malayalam Book at Pusthakam.net website
• ബെന്യാമിന്റെ ആടു ജീവിതം അറബിയിലേക്ക് at arabianewspaper.com Malayalam online news