Post by Rejimon Kuttappan

Some books are written. Some are lived. The River of Grey Flowers is both. My debut novel — published by Speaking Tiger Books — follows John Easow, a Dalit fisherman's son from the Tamil coast who crosses the sea chasing work and dignity, and instead disappears into the cyber-slavery compounds of Southeast Asia's Golden Triangle. It is a story of captivity, the tiger bench, of bodies that vanish into border rivers, and of the fragile brotherhood that survival demands. #TheRiverOfGreyFlowers #RejimonKuttappan #SpeakingTiger #IndianFiction #DebutNovel #ForcedLabour #LabourMigration #HumanTrafficking It is also a work of faction — fiction built on the scaffolding of real events. Since 2022, I have been directly involved in efforts to rescue Indians trapped in scam compounds across Myanmar, Cambodia, and Laos. I have sat with survivors, tracked their ordeals through embassy corridors and family WhatsApp groups, and carried their testimonies for years. Every tiger bench in this book has a real counterpart. Everyone who disappears into the river stands for someone whose name was never recorded. This novel is my attempt to sing those names back into the record — to give narrative and dignity to people the world has chosen to forget. If you have followed my journalism on labour migration and forced labour, this is where the reporting becomes a reckoning. I would be honoured if you read it, and grateful if you shared it forward. 📕 The River of Grey Flowers: A Novel — available now on Amazon and through Speaking Tiger Books. Rejimon Kuttappan

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