India, March 1 -- The recently concluded Rose Festival at Zakir Hussain Rose Garden was, as always, a spectacle of colour and choreography. Petals in full bloom. Lawns trimmed with military precision. Pathways suddenly even, freshly lined and well-lit. Parking lots appeared more organised. Street dividers gleamed with new paint.

For one weekend, the city looked like it had remembered its manners. And then, almost as predictably, the scaffolding came down. Because in many cities, and certainly in ours, infrastructure does not always improve. It performs.

The aesthetics of urgency

There is a rhythm to civic urgency. It spikes before a VIP visit or festival. Roads that have tolerated potholes for months are resurfaced overnight. Broken pa...