There are some colours that stay with you long after you’ve looked away. Red is one of them. It lingers. It stains memory, feeling, and thought in ways that are difficult to contain or fully explain.

For this edition of Fitoor, we found ourselves returning to red again and again. At first, it felt familiar. The colour of love, celebration, warmth. But the longer we sat with it, the more it began to shift. Red became something harder to hold in place. It was also hunger and heat, danger and fear. It was blood, protest, urgency, and power. It was beauty, but also discomfort.

We began to think about how often red appears in our lives without us fully noticing it. In our bodies, in moments of care and pain. In our kitchens, in spice and excess. In our streets, in signals, warnings, and resistance. In the ways we desire, remember, and react.

This edition is an attempt to sit with these contradictions rather than resolve them. The pieces that follow do not try to define red. Instead, they move through it, tracing its presence across different experiences, places, and emotions. Some are intimate, some political, some quiet, some unsettling. Together, they reflect the many ways red lives with us.

रंगLaal is not a single idea. It is a feeling that shifts depending on where you stand.

As always, Fitoor remains a space for curiosity, reflection, and expression. We are grateful to everyone who trusted us with their work and allowed us to bring this edition together.

We hope you find something here that stays with you.

Warmly,
The Editors