Narrative Non-Fiction
Rejimon Kuttappan is an independent journalist and a migrant rights defender. He was Chief Reporter for the Times of Oman until he was deported back to India in 2017, for exposing human trafficking and modern slavery in the Arab Gulf through a front-page news story.
Rejimon now writes for the Thomson Reuters Foundation (TRF), Equal Times, Migrant Rights, Middle East Eye, The Hindu, Times of India, The Caravan, Wire, The Leaflet, and various other Indian news portals.
He has done two media fellowships with the International Labour Organisation (ILO) on labour migration and human trafficking, and one each with TRF and National Foundation of India (NFI) on forced labour and Gulf migration, respectively.
Rejimon is also a researcher for the Migrant Forum in Asia and has worked as a consultant for the ILO and International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC).
In 2019, he authored an anthology, Rowing Between Rooftops: The Heroic Fishermen of Kerala Floods, telling the stories of heroic fishermen who rescued thousands from the 2018 Kerala floods.
Rejimon belongs to the Panan Dalit community of Kerala. Historically, Panans were ballad singers who narrated the acts of the then great warriors and kings. He wishes to continue this storytelling legacy through his books and writing.
Rejimon lives in Kerala and can be followed on @rejitweets , Facebook- Rejimon Kuttappan
After a warm welcome by the anchor, Ms Rucha takes the opportunity to appreciate how astonishing Mr Rejimon’s work has been over the years with his every book making sure to bring inspiring and outstanding stories to the fore, she mentions Rowing Between the Rooftops, Mr Rejimon’s outstanding work on how fishermen in Kerala came to the rescue when flood hits the shore of the South Indian state in 2018. Mr Rejimon acknowledges the appreciation and talks about why he feels the need to bring stories to the general public that haven’t been heard about and how that landed him with the concept of his new book Stories of Indian Migrants in the Arab Gulf. He goes on and talks about his experience as a migrant and how millions of people from India migrate to the Arabian Gulf for a better life but are often met with hostile circumstances and some even fail to even make it back to their homeland. Mr Rejimon’s new book shines light on an issue that the general public is aware of but doesn’t get access to individual stories. The conversation rolls on in the same direction and comes to close after a few more questions.