Experience of a Gulf migrant through the Eyes of ‘Goat Days’ by Benyamin

Abstract

The emergence of a large and prosperous Indian Diaspora across the globe obscures the fact that the majority of them face various hardships and violence in the journey from home to host land. The Indian Diaspora in the Gulf is unique because of its transitory nature and lack of diasporic community formation. Thus, most of them use various resources available to survive and thrive, such as imagination and faith in the case of Najeeb, the protagonist of Goat Days written by Benny Daniel. This article, therefore, seeks to explore the human experience of migration to Gulf countries by analysing the literary narrative Goat Days. The author's writing has converted the text into the universal tale of loneliness, exploitation and alienation. Najeeb is forced to live a ‘goat's life’ where he transforms ‘goats’ into an imagined community through his imagination for survival. Furthermore, Goat Days is different from the Indian Diasporic literature from West in terms of being realistic, humane and does not emphasise on identity and cultural conflict. The article attempts to understand the processes of migration, displacement, slavery, loneliness, violence, nostalgia, alienation, distress and hope among the Indian migrants in the Gulf.