India, Feb. 13 -- In recent years, the streets, riverbanks, hills, markets, and neighbourhood lanes of Guwahati have increasingly found a second life on social media through short-form videos, also known as "reels." On any given day in Guwahati, someone is recording something: a slow walk along the Brahmaputra at sunrise, friends laughing over tea at a roadside stall, children playing in a neighbourhood park, or a crowded street glowing with lights during the festive season. These moments, captured on mobile phones and shared as "reels," are quietly reshaping how the city is experienced, remembered, and felt.

This is not just a local phenomenon. Across India, reels have become the dominant form of short-form video content. A recent study...