That won’t make us happy

Seerat Kaur Gill

Happiness is elusive. Philosophers and clerics have been trying to explain it through religious and spiritual texts; each churning out mantras to happiness. However, if so many babas knew the key to happiness, wouldn’t our country with a massive number of babas and diverse places of worship be the happiest? 

Researchers the world over have tried to ‘capture’ and define happiness. They have quantified it and compiled a list of the happiest countries in the world! Using a tedious process of taking into account the emotional and physical wellbeing of citizens, their incomes, employment status, environment and the community they live in, and applying appropriate statistical tools to compute the happiness quotient, the scores of the countries are compared with one another. Contrary to popular belief, the world’s happiest nations are not the ones whose citizens fast and pray every day, neither are those capitalist countries that wield global power with the might of their dollar. The world’s happiest countries are Denmark, Norway, Switzerland, Canada, Iceland and New Zealand. This year, Finland topped the list. These seemingly small countries have beaten capitalist giants like the US and the UK in the World Happiness Index. The harsh climate doesn’t seem to have dampened their spirit. These countries boast of one of the best education and healthcare programmes. A professor, who completed his doctorate from Denmark says, ‘Denmark is an egalitarian society where a janitor and an associate professor used to sit together for a beer after college hours. It was a shocker for a caste-conscious Tamil Brahmin like myself!’ 

The Nordic countries seem to be doing something right to keep their citizens happy. They are happy despite the lack of sun and the biting cold. Although these countries have some of the highest taxes in the world, the citizens have access to social security and personal freedom. They have converted wealth into wellbeing for the people of their country. 

This means that happiness is not a matter of choice. It is greatly influenced by the country one lives in. Having high income, access to luxury, enough sunshine, fasting every day for different gods is probably not enough. Maybe that is why India is placed 133rd among 156 countries on the list. Even if we earn well, but live in a corruption-ridden society which doesn’t allow personal freedom and hampers social security, happiness will continue to remain elusive. 

Happiness is more than a six-digit salary. It is more than reading heavy religious texts. It is more than bright sunshine and the tropics. It is about creating strong social foundations. It is about living and letting others live. It is about making choices without judgment. Till then, happiness will remain an illusion.