Reporting happiness

 

Happiness is quite a subjective matter. What makes some people happy may be displeasing for others. What is a significant source for happiness for some may mean nothing for others. If the society has evolved core -quite complex and is achieved with much effort through various factors, percolated through benign culture and humanistic traditions and valued through institutions, then it will be reflected in all aspects of dealing including art, science and daily interactions. Crass is always a presence but varies in different societies. A primitive society will have crass as its core and will be reflected in every aspect of life (for instance societies that normalize caste cannibals, monster mullahs, or evil evangelicals will find misery percolating in proportionate to degree of influence of crass). Such spaces cannot be happy on any parameters except maybe those of the perverse kind that sustains the worst of sadistic possibilities – the benign sinister exist among those posing as civilized through feudal institutions, patriarchal concerns, systems of control so on, that wait for fertile grounds to wrench the world back into cave setting and jolly world of hunter gatherers.

Kahneman (in Thinking Fast and Slow) comes out with a unique take on happiness -essentially wellness, that of the experiencing self and the remembering self. Our recollection of an event is anchored on remembering self and not all that what we experience. It is difficult to study happiness and to quantify it. The bias in evaluation and narrow parameters of undertaking within geographical entity of a nation is problematic. There are, ofcourse, some basic parameters on basis of which you can attempt to approximate level of happiness in a society. World Happiness Report is such a venture that was released on March 20^th -the World Happiness Day, adopted by UNGA. Indians (increasingly proud citizens of Bharat), it seems, are not a happy lot. Placed at lowly 118 out of 147 countries (with barbarian ruled Afghanistan rightly at the bottom) sharing happiness with the likes of Chad and Burkina Faso. That 1.4 billion people, approximately 18% of world population, are not at all happy is a serious concern. And when you thought this is the worst possibility comes the expected revelation that Indians rank 128^th in ‘social support’, expected since a society that doesn’t even have a basic understanding of community is incapacitated to provide social support to its fellow citizens. Indeed, every misery is an opportunity to elucidate lessons of fate and blessing to herd, to demarcate normal days into auspicious times, to create crowds as illustration of power of control hence faith, which then falls into the fate of incompetence and characteristic apathy to orchestrate stampede thus ultimate fate of gruesome deaths while blessings for survivors. India also ranks 118^th in ‘inequality’ – which too is on expected lines, authenticated by happy squatters, consolidated by snarling self-obsessed politicians dividing herd with all kind of distractions for easy grab for power. Despite dubious claims of spiritual, and spiritual gurus in every street corner, Indians rank 117 for harboring ‘negative emotion’ -indeed the most literate state with high HDI index comparable to best in the world, Kerala, finds itself in worst of situation with high suicide rate and increasing violence among youngsters (conveniently blamed on drugs -as if these are not available anywhere else in the country) due to crass nature of society incapacitated to self-reflect. What is redeeming, atleast in relative sense, is the high sense of ‘freedom’ (ranked 21) that people enjoy compared to hellholes around the world as also ‘generosity’ (51) -at personal level people can be quite nice despite trapped in worst of society. Ranked 16 in ‘volunteering’ cannot be taken seriously since these are mostly for gaining blessing and generally within the putrid pit -the study seems to have failed to factor in unique nature of depravity. Incidentally, tribes are very few spaces in society that show some remnants of egalitarian value systems.

What is most despicable in the whole conversation is that instead of self-reflection and critical analysis there was blatant attempt by some in the media to manipulate (indeed disinformation) the discussion and try salvage ‘great Indian culture’ (I have a very low opinion on Indian media, and so follow lowest denominator to gather national news -they show no urgency to check facts, typos nor sensibilities to value what is important -it is one crass attempt at attention and greed -and this honesty without pretensions is better than pretentious mediocres). Check this to see how they work to create a narration that is just the opposite of the reality: “India ranked 118 out of 147 countries. While it ranked well for social support, thanks to its community-focused culture and family structures, it scored poorly on freedom, reflecting a lack of perceived choice in society. India's ranking has improved over the years; it was ranked 144 in 2012, and its highest ranking was 94 in 2022”. Such depravity.

Mediocrity seeks power: it is but natural that mediocre people in whatever field they are posing in, whether as artist, journalists, writers, scientists so on, will seek power and influence -social media has added to ease in attention seeking. Greed is never satiated by money, there is always existential crave for more in beggar minded society. Squatter value system has cleverly worked these depravities as successful signs of blessedness for the herd to emulate. As noted from above example writing is just another means to control narration while data points to serious truth deficit. Since the core is rotten it is also expressed through Indian writers (very rarely you have Indian writers -in whatever language, standing up to critical scrutiny; mediocre and insipid). The reason why word defecating vermin come in different shapes and sizes to fill up all the gaps in high end manipulation. More assured they are of their special place in universe prodigious is the output, thicker the feculence/books.   

So here I was at a shop waiting to get an electronic gadget repaired. At the waiting space was collection of books, and this one from a woman (who has worked her crave into RajyaSabha. Having observed the worst kind of people posing as artists into power circle, her PR is keenly manipulating for VP position). I seldom read Indian writers -unless strongly recommended which is quite rare considering overwhelming mediocrity. As I flipped through pages, as a keen reader I felt embarrassed at the quality of writing and very soon felt violated, so before placing it back -ideally thrown into dustbin, I thought of going through the last chapter. Not to strain the precious brains of herd it was appropriately titled “What matters in the end”! “Now Mukesh realized how much he missed his Amma. She knew him and loved him more than anyone else in the world. He was not a Jat or sardar. He was a Brahmin from south India. He knew who he was now. Mukesh took the next flight from Delhi to Bangalore and slept like a baby on the plane.” This trash is Indian writing! What motivates these embarrassing mediocres to write? (also, note complexity of putrefaction here sardar is purposely in small letters -a degraded mocking version of Sikh. Squatter ensconced pus minds have deep contempt for Buddhism and Sikhism as it exposes their depravities. You may also visit https://depalan.blogspot.com/2015/05/horrible-nature-of-poetry-and-degraded.html?zx=9f31a85f57e45972 written 10 years ago for more on depraved mindset). And this despicable woman poses as simple and down to earth while her knuckle headed millionaire husband, lacking any awareness of social reality or empathy, evaluates youngsters as slaves. What is more shocking is that this lump in human form is now full time into children’s writing, posing as moral arbitrator. No amount of manipulated backstory can hide soul clogged in putrefying pus. No wonder India is such a happy place! With little more manipulation it could be happiest place on earth with gaudy gods tacked on floating clouds showering petals on chosen people!