In the 1860s, Governor Sir Bartle Frere envisaged Mumbai as ‘Urbs Prima in Indis,’ the first city of India. But where does that vision stand in the 2020s? At our Online Talk #UrbsPrimaInIndis, researcher R Venkatesh provides a contemporary context to the historical city and throws light on present complexities. He covers a wide range of key challenges in approaches in understanding Mumbai’s past, some of them ambiguous or uncomfortable to the inquirer not yet trained in research methodology. He attempts to bring up themes, topics and possible approaches to a holistic, more deductive understanding of history in a freewheeling talk that attempts to tickle thoughts and dispel some belief-constraints on dimensions like colonialism, capitalism, and leftist-rightist, sociological-ethnic, and political aspects of creating the city, worthy of future researchers in the audience. About the speaker R Venkatesh is an MA in History from JNU, Delhi and an independent researcher. He has contributed to several lectures and heritage walks around banking, architecture, maritime and other themes on Urbs Prima in Indis, including co-authoring a book Gateways to the Sea. He is a member of the Asiatic Society of Mumbai, INTACH and Maritime Mumbai Museum Society.