Aadu
Jeevitham –By Benyamin
Aaadu jeevitham(Goat life) is a novel
written by Banyamin published by Green
books(Thrissur) and price Rs 150/-. Noev
deals with the life of a Malayalee (Najeeb) who gets a visa to work abroad.He
along with another young person Hakim reaches the Riad airport. An Arab
who sponsored a person named
Abdullah reaches the airport and
searches Abdullah. He meets and both
Najeeb abd Hakim and lifted them from
the Airport by his pick up wan. They were taken to a far distant place in the
desert. He gives Najeeb to another Arab . Both were employed
by their employers to look after their
Sheep , goat and Camels. The
place where the animals are kept is known as “Masara “ and employers are called “Arbab”.
Najeeb was kept under training under a
human being called “Bheekara sathwam “ in the novel. Bheekara sathwam also is an Indian
who speaks Hindi only .He has also been trapped by Arabs like Hakim and
Najeeb. Najeeb learns to take care of
the animals, feed them, take them round etc. One day morning the
Bheekarasathwam was found missing from the Masara . Hakim and Najeeb could hardly meet each other
as their meeting was watched by the employers who did not like their meetings. Najib lives there with lack of food, drinking water, sex
and any happiness in life. He has
no contact with out side world.He
calls the animals with names of persons whom he knowsBut one
day Hakim could convey to Najeeb that they can escape with the help of a fellow worker from
Somalia named Ibrahim Khadari who is also employed similarly by Hakim`s
“Arbab.” In the mean time one day Najib finds the dead body of Bheekara sathwam in the
sand with his had out side.!!
All three leave the Masara in the night and walks through the deserts
on foot. On the way Hakim lost his life and Ibrahim Khadari is found missing. Najeeb was given a lift in a car by a rich
person and he was left in the city. Najeeb had no friends or acquaintances
there. He finds a Malabar Hotel
owned by a Malayalee and faints in front of the hotel. Hotel owner is one Kunjikka and he and his workers gives all help to Najeeb
who surrenders to the local police. To his surprise he finds that the Somalian
IbrahimKhadiri `s photo in the police station along with hard criminals.
With the help of Indian embassy Najib reaches the mother land.
The story
is written with lot of elegance and life of Najib among the animals described by Benyamin with full mastery. The novel has received lot of prestigious
awards including that from Kerala Sahithya academy. The camels , goats etc are charactors of the novel along
with the Arab employers (Arbabs) , The irony
of the novel is that the Arbab
was searching an Abdullah and he takes
away Hakim and Najib. The Somali who helps
Najib and Hakim to escape
and takes Najib in his shoulders was a
hard core criminal!!. Najib was given lift in a car by a rich Arab. (“ Then I understood that Allahu travels in rich
man`s car also”.The author says that this is not Najjibs story, but life. !!
I had a good reading of the novel.
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