Urbs Indis
If you spend any time in Bombay-related archives or libraries, you will likely come across the phrase “Urbs Prima in Indis.” It is embossed on book covers and adorns coats of arms. For those whose Latin has turned rusty in the megacity’s salty air, this means, “The First City of India.” Although I like to think of it as “The Preeminent City.” This rolls off the tongue more easily.
When it came time to put a name to the artistic endeavors I was engaged in, ranging from aerial photography of urban India to architecture, and writing to exhibitions, I took a page from Bombay’s past and ran it through the editor’s chopping block: we would be “Urbs Indis.” Cities of India. (I know it is probably not grammatically correct, but I rarely run into anyone these days who is fluent in Latin.)
Urbs Indis. Everything we do, one way or another, has a foot in the city, in India. Usually one foot in the past and one foot leading into the future. I find it impossible to move forward any other way.
Image 1: Book cover of R.P. Kapadi’a “The Charm of Bombay,” 1915.
Image 2: The Urbs Indis Library, studio, and home in Bangalore. Completed in September 2024 with granite that is more than 3 billion years old.
Image by @tinanandiphoto.