ECHOES OF A SCARLET FLAME

In her debut novel, Footprints, writer Neetha John delves into myriad themes from mental health and family dynamics to peculiarities of modern love. Talking to CE, she details her writing process, the narrative style she chose, and leaving a bit of her behind in these pages.

- DIVAMARIA GEORGE

RED is the colour of fire, passion, and rebellion burning beneath the surface. It demands attention, refuses to be ignored. On the cover of Footprints, the debut novel by writer Neetha John, red bursts forth a bold, unmissable tulip-shaped dot at the centre of a swirl of yellow and orange, a sun in motion or perhaps a wound that refuses to close. Red is also the colour of Samantha, the novel's protagonist. It's in her hair, in the hoodie she pulls over herself like an armour, in the way Luke sees her just for a moment like Holden Caulfield's lost twin. Red is also the colour of tulips-the kind that bloom defiantly, the kind that carry secrets in their petals. They stand tall in the novel and echo Sylvia Plath's Ariel, where red is not just a colour but a galloping inevitability, a rush toward something both beautiful and terrifying. The cover of Footprints is not just an image it's a foreshadowing. It tells us that Samantha, like the red at its centre, is at the heart of the story.

Footprints delves into themes of mental health, intricate family dynamics, and the nuances and peculiarities of modern love. Neetha shares, "Since childhood, I wanted to write. That was the only dream. I really think I am not suitable for anything else." The genesis of Samantha, the novel's central character, is rooted in Neetha's own musings about morality and modernity. "When I read The Fault in Our Stars by John Green, I was inspired by the character Hazel Grace's aim to do no harm. It felt so contradictory to what I had learned so far. That felt really wonderful to me the idea of living a small life by doing no harm to others. I began thinking about how it would be if someone lived by that principle in the modern world. That led to creating the character Samantha."

The impact of dual perspectives