In all the very many cities I've lived or stayed in as an adult, (joking, you can count them on one hand), I have found that a quick and easy way to get a sense of the city is to read the local papers. There are day-to-day happenings, and there are things that set the paper apart that will be surprising to everyone else. (Still better would be to read in vernacular languages, but that will have to wait.)
My local paper of choice here has been Mumbai Mirror, and has it been an eventful couple of months for the city! The south-west monsoon has been the heaviest in several years. Assembly elections are coming up. But the issue gripping the city has been the plan to raze thousands of trees in Aarey forest to make space for a Metro car shed. Local residents have turned out in the middle of the night and clashed with police - and scored, as of now, a temporary but partial victory as many trees have already been cut but the Supreme Court has stepped in.
Newspapers seem like one-way communication, but they really need not be, in the Internet age. Mirror has features where readers send in interesting photos of the city, apart from publishing a (usually currently relevant) question every day to start a conversation on social media. This is apart from traditional letters to the editor, of course. Local papers also have more freedom to go deeper into localised issues (for instance, features on how the freezing of PMC bank has hit the Sikh community in the city).
Another thing that struck me in the event listings is the popularity of theatre - in Marathi, Hindi and English. I am yet to attend any plays but this makes me very curious. Stand-up comedy also seems to be a big draw. There is also lots of celebrity gossip that I gladly skip over, but I see why people are invested.
But what I'm really trying to do is approximate this nebulous concept of the "spirit of a city". I don't know how one would define such a thing. I don't think a city is too much more than people who happened to be in the same place at the same time. Some contagious ideas and tendencies stick and are chalked up to the spirit of the city. Would Mumbaikars walk so famously fast, or crowd on trains, or recover after terror attacks, if the city wasn't the financial capital? I don't know. But any new avenue to spread positive ideas and hold powerful people accountable is a good thing.
Also, here is a Mumbai Mirror feature with vintage photographs and interviews with personalities who shaped the city, do check it out.
