It is good to know that the world is a happier place today than it was four years ago despite everything one has been seeing or reading. It is even better to be told that neither woes, nor wants, nor whinging about corruption has dented our genius for happiness. Last week, French market research company Ipsos declared that the world’s happiest live in Indonesia, India and Mexico.

I have never been to Indonesia but since that country has pipped us to grab the top slot in the happiness stakes, it is certainly going to be on my must-visit list. Most vacationers head for Bali, “the world’s best island resort”. But there is more to Indonesia, the largest archipelago in the world comprising over 17,000 large and small tropical islands fringed with white sandy beaches, than Balinese dancers and Balinese spa. Hopefully, curiosity and some cash-to-splash will take me one day to all the other unexplored islands with grand mountain views, green rainforests and rolling waves. If I am beginning to sound like a tourist brochure, I am hardly to blame. This is what happiness does to a lot of people in youthful emerging markets like Indonesia, India and Mexico.
What is happiness? Sages down the ages have been telling us that money can’t buy happiness. Perhaps. But there is merit, money and prestige in tracking the ways of happy folks these days. Globally, happiness research is on an upswing, with both scholars and salesmen joining the fray. Some want to know if a particular policy leads to a general good feeling among the public; others delve into how this good feeling (or the lack of it) affects spending.
In India, marketing strategists are likely to be among the most enthusiastic happiness-investigators in the coming months and years. It is easy to see why Indian consumer expenditure is set to grow almost four-fold from $991 billion in 2010 to $3.6 trillion in 2020, according to a joint report by Boston Consulting Group and the Confederation of Indian Industry titled “The Tiger Roars — How a billion plus people consume and shop”.
The critical questions: Do happy people spend more? What do they spend on? What do people need to do to be, and remain, happy? The aspirational Indian argues that happiness is now within the reach of each and every one of us, not just the gross national happiness-loving Bhutanese in their magical, mountaineous land, provided we are not tight-fisted and give in to the urge to splurge. For the less-padded among us, luckily, there are some good deals round the corner — if you can’t buy happiness, you can always rent it, go for happiness-lite, or its cousin, wellness.
Talking to some self-proclaimed happy people, I discovered a few of the products and services that go a long way to make one happy and keep one in that state — chocolates, cosmetics, champagne, perfumes, exotic holidays, fine dining and spas, not necessarily in that order. This may sound like a girlie-list, but it is not. Seekers and keepers of happiness in urban India, both men and women, are increasingly trying out the same stuff. In the run-up to Valentine’s Day this year, unsurprisingly, men were rushing to beauty parlours and even going under the knife to get rid of frown lines, crow’s feet and double chin. But lovers have to do their maths. Fly with your loved one to Bali, or take up the offer from a luxury hotel for an exclusive five-course dinner for two by the beachside in Goa for Rs 25,000? Or a seven-course meal customised to the palate of a loving two-some, and a romantic drive in a sleek limo?
Is there a money-back option, in case the chocolates-champagne-cosmetic surgery-canoodling over a seven-course meal strategy does not work? The short answer is no. There are no guarantees in life. Even “the US Constitution does not guarantee happiness, only the pursuit of it. You have to catch up with it yourself,” as Benjamin Franklin said.
India’s high score in the latest who’s happy contest reminds one of the ’90s when the country reached out to the global market, breaking free from socialism. Then, the buzz word was beauty. Through that decade, Indian beauties won laurels at international beauty contests. Sushmita Sen brought home the Miss Universe crown in 1994. Aishwarya Rai became Miss World the same year. Then, for a while it looked as if India had the Miss World title for keeps — Diana Hayden got it in ’97; Yukta Mookhey got it two years later. In 2000, Lara Dutta was crowned Miss Universe and Priyanka Chopra bagged the Miss World title. Then, India’s glory years in the global beauty fests ended.
But something else began to churn within the country. John Keats, the English Romantic poet, famously said, “Beauty is truth, truth beauty.” The beauty craze that took off in India from the ’90s was premised on just the opposite belief. Global cosmetic majors and home-grown ones hard-sold their wares, making the average Indian woman (and man) feel that with the right lotions, potions, hair colour and treatments, s/he could be beautiful, and, therefore, happy.
Trawling through the surfeit of surveys, one learns that Indians are not only the happiest, they are also the most optimistic. “India remained the world’s most optimistic market for the eighth consecutive quarter with a one-point consumer confidence index increase to 122, followed by Indonesia and the Philippines at 117,” according to the latest global consumer confidence findings from Nielsen, a provider of information and insights into what consumers watch and buy.
Happy people are few and far in between in markets that are not expanding and Europe, despite all its charms, has been taking a hit in surveys gauging the feel-good factor. “European markets accounted for nine of the 10 most depressed markets last quarter,” says Nielsen. Goulash-slurping Hungary, incidentally, is deemed to be the world’s most pessimistic market.
Meanwhile, India’s happiness economy appears to be on the roll. For those watching from the sidelines or smiling wryly, one can only say, join in the fun, even if it is for a short while. Next year, some other emerging market could beat us in the happiness rankings, and we will be back to our normal selves. So, don’t scoff money, and all the happiness-inducing goodies that money can buy.
The final words from the Beatles. After trilling “The best things in life are free,” even they had to come down to brass tacks: You’re lovin’ gives me a thrill/But you’re lovin’ don’t pay my bills/Now give me money, That’s what I want/That’s what I want, yeah/That’s what I want.

The writer focuses on development issues in India and emerging economies. She can be reached at patralekha.chatterjee@gmail.com