‘The River of Grey Flowers’: Good intentions do not always a good novel make
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Reading The River of Grey Flowers feels a lot like watching Dhurandhar. While Rejimon Kuttappan’s debut novel has none of Aditya Dhar’s right-wing nationalism, it succumbs to the same fatal flaw in narrative: it depends so much on its events being true stories that it fails to create enough stakes for the characters within its fiction.
The circumstances
Kuttappan is an investigative journalist specialising in migrant rights and forced labour, and this novel borrows from much of the news he has broken. It follows John Easow, a Dalit fisherman’s son, who is a graphic designer by day and turmeric smuggler by night. When he falls in love with Thenmozhi, a savarna woman from the neighbouring village, they marry in secret; he is forced to give up his boat, and therefore his income from smuggling, in exchange for his life. He loses his day job too, and applies to another graphic design role in Dubai – this takes him to Thailand, and then, against his will, to Myawaddy, or Myanmar.
His new role is a forced labour scheme, where he is made to defraud strangers online alongside similarly deceived Dalit and African workers. He poses as different women using different SIM cards, and sweet-talks men into sending him money....