One of the questions that plagues me from time to time is the one about happiness and prosperity, wealth and peace of mind, richness and being comfortable and ok in one’s skin.

Our society eulogises wealth. Ask most anyone what they want to be or what they want for their children – riches; money; wealth. Ask them further, what do you want to be rich for – most are stumped.

I write today from Zermatt, in the shadows of the most famous of the Alpine peaks, the Matterhorn. The majestic mountains are a reminder, for those who want to see it that way, of our puniness, the tiny, insignificant space that we occupy in the order of nature. But here I am in the first conference of its kind, discussing Humanizing Globalization.

I think of the story of Parvati and Shiva’s contest for their two sons – who could go around the world three times and come back first. Kartikeya gets on to his peacock and zooms around the earth. Ganesha slowly walks around his parents three times and wins the contest. Is that the first time we see a difference in the perspective of what is global and what local? Is it about our perception of the world?

There has been a presentation on something called the Prosperity Index. I am fascinated for, for the first time, this is looking at countries not only by their riches as manifest through GDPs , but at the happiness factors of people. The point of the index I learn is “to take a holistic view of prosperity beyond just material wealth” and to include factors such as social capital, health, opportunity, security, effective governance, human rights and liberties and overall quality of life. Perfect, I think to myself.

104 countries are ranked according to nine building blocks identified after “extensive research and analysis”. These are: economic fundamentals; entrepreneurship and innovation; democratic institutions; education; health; safety and security; governance; personal freedom and social capital. Each of these is made of sub indexes, weighted and compared. India ranks neither in the top ten nor in the bottom ones. It comes in as a poor happy country! (There are several rich unhappy ones as well).

Here are some interesting key findings. Prosperous countries ( Finland comes in number one) are strong across all indices. Entrepreneurs at the micro level need good economic policies at the macro level – entrepreneurs often get stuck if, in spite of innovating, they hit bad country planning. Freedom can not be divided – countries which allow freedom in certain aspects of life but not in others, do not score well. History is not destiny – some rich countries have fallen way behind in rankings. Many nations who were very poor in the last decade have climbed in the ladder. Good governance is central to life and economic progress – a country like India with slack or no governance can never climb this index unless it changes. Prosperity means security. A secure nation, where the people are not always afraid of attack or harm, is a nation where the people flower. Strong communities are better than weak governments – countries with weak governments but strong family and social networks still fare relatively well. India benefits from this factor in spite of the many ineffectual and corrupt governments we have had.

And finally, and significantly, money can’t buy happiness, unless you are poor. The incremental happiness for those who are really poor co-relates positively with increases in wealth. Someone who earns Rs. 1500 a month and suddenly starts earning double that, will see a huge rise in happiness. But once this comes to a certain level, where basic needs are comfortably met, the incremental rise in incomes does not manifest itself in concomitant rises in happiness.

These findings have many implications for us, as individuals and as people in a democracy. As individuals we need to chart out when our happiness curve starts decoupling itself from income, and to figure out what the other ingredients of well being are. Other wise we spend our time chasing something that brings us no happiness. As a people of a country we need to remind ourselves to vote in a government that realizes and moves towards those factors that lead us to a playing field where we can work out our own scenarios – not governments which continue to frighten us, make us further insecure, feed only one segment of society at the cost of the rest of us.