Last September, this paper had reported that St Xavier’s College had decided to wind up the operations of the Bombay Local History Society (BLHS), the city’s oldest urban history group, after 40 years on its premises. The management cited space and fund constraints, and the fact that the society wasn’t registered. This January, the society was registered under the Bombay Public Trusts Act with seven members in the working committee and has slowly, but steadily adapted itself to the digital world — ensuring that the legacy flagged off by Fr John Correia-Afonso stayed alive.

In March, and shortly before the lockdown was announced, BLHS debuted on Instagram and Facebook. And with online lectures becoming part of the new normal, this Saturday, it is organising its very own, too. Titled The Coming of the Plague, Bombay c. 1896-1898, the public lecture will be delivered by historian and associate professor of colonial urban history at the University of Leicester, Dr Prashant Kidambi.