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Thakkijja: A Memoir of Wrongful Imprisonment, Survival, and Freedom

Jayachandran Mokeri

Sreeja Raman

Thakkijja is the extraordinary true story of Jayachandran Mokeri's harrowing ordeal in the Maldives, where he was arrested and imprisoned for a crime he did not commit. He spent eight months and twenty-two days behind bars before his innocence was finally established and diplomatic intervention by the Government of India brought him home.

Written in a compelling tone, this book offers an intimate and unflinching account of prison life, capturing both its physical hardships and emotional toll. Mokeri lays bare the arbitrary nature of a justice system that prolonged his incarceration, revealing how bureaucracy, politics, and prejudice can conspire against an innocent person. Alongside his own ordeal, he recounts the remarkable solidarity and camaraderie of the Malayali community, whose collective efforts brought his case to wider public attention and helped garner significant public support.

Powerful and deeply moving, Thakkijja is a testament to the resilience of the human spirit in the face of profound injustice.

Jayachandran Mokeri

Jayachandran Mokeri is a Malayalam writer, journalist and teacher whose work draws deeply on lived experience, social realities and the lives of ordinary people. Born in Mokeri in Kozhikode district, Kerala, he began his career as a freelance journalist before working as a teacher in India and abroad. He continues to write for various periodicals.

Mokeri's literary work encompasses memoir, narrative non-fiction, children's literature and writing rooted in the social and cultural history of Kerala. He also wrote the screenplay for Mayyazhiyude Vimochakan (The Liberator of Mahé), a documentary broadcast by Doordarshan.

His acclaimed memoir Thakkijja: My Life in Prison (2016) grew out of his experience of imprisonment while working as a teacher in the Maldives. The book records his ordeal of eight months and twenty-two days in Maldivian prisons while also looking beyond his own experience to the vulnerabilities of expatriate workers navigating an unfamiliar legal system. Thakkijja won the Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award for Biography and Autobiography, in 2017, and subsequently received several other literary and cultural honours.

His other books include Kadalneelam (2021), Pappu Doctor (2022), Ullolangal (2025), a collection of memories edited by him, and Chippiyude Kauthuka Lokam (2026), a children's novel. Kadalneelam received the first Malayalam Literature Forum Award and the Valluvanadan Award, while Pappu Doctor received the Sahithi Award in 2023.

Among his other distinctions are the Tattvamasi–Dr. Sukumar Azhikode Cultural Academy Award and V. T. Bhattathirippad Award.

Sreeja Raman

Sreeja Raman is a bilingual writer, poet and translator. Based in Thrissur, Kerala, she has postgraduate degrees in English Literature, Mass Communication and Journalism. A freelance writer and translator for over a decade, she has worked across literature, journalism, essays, features and other forms of non-fiction. She also writes English subtitles for short films.

Her translation portfolio includes five completed book-length translations from Malayalam into English and one from English into Malayalam, alongside shorter literary and non-fiction translations.

As a published author, her work spans poetry, narrative non-fiction and short fiction. Her books include Everybody Loves a Good Loneliness, In Search of Philosia: Decoding an Indian Festival, an Amazon bestseller, and Idathukayyaksharangal.