Is there a solution to the chaos in Namma Bengaluru?

HAOS. A search to understand the word better revealed: "Complete disorder and confusion". In Physics, it is explained as "the property of a complex system whose behaviour is so unpredictable as to appear random, owing to great sensitivity to small changes in conditions".

- NIRAD MUDUR Deputy Resident Editor, Karnataka [e-mail]

That is as far as understanding the word is concerned. This simple five-letter word can however send the brain into a spin when we actually experience it. For that, you need to be in Bengaluru—probably the most ideal place to experience chaos in action.

Let's start from the very beginning about the city and chaos.

A city is an urban area with a high population density. It has a high concentration of residential areas. A city is a centre of commerce, culture, administration, markets, educational institutions, hospitals and medical centres, sports, and recreational and leisure facilities spread across it. These are linked by roads and streets, and supported by essential mobility infrastructure, water supply, and sanitation systems. Ideally, it needs to support a sustainable cradle-to-grave life, guaranteeing a comforting sense of safety and security.

Chaos in the city sets in with the failure of civic systems, processes, deliverance of services, enforcement and law & order mechanism. When that happens, masses take the failure for granted, and take advantage of the lenience of laws, weak enforcement—which translates to lack of deterrence to unlawful behaviour—and civic administrative shortfalls.