In November 2019, a few weeks before news of the Coronavirus outbreak trickled in from China, the Citizens Archive of India (CAI), a not-for-profit, held its debut exhibition at Fort’s Chemould Prescott Road gallery. Archive director Malvika Bhatia, who had been working on the project since 2017—recording and archiving personal stories of Indians who’d witnessed India through two centuries, using oral history and material memories—remembers how this solo show, was a prelude to an exciting chapter for CAI and the team.

In the intervening years of 2018 and 2019, the team had interviewed nearly 200-odd people. With enough buzz around their exhibition, expanding the project finally seemed like a possibility. Bhatia and CAI’s founder Rohan Parikh charted out a comprehensive plan for 2020. “We decided to hire across other metros to help build the archive, and even hold a larger exhibition,” says Bhatia.