Putting a Price to Happiness

 After reading a LinkedIn Post about the "Price of Happiness" I began thinking this through.

What is happiness? 

According to the Merriam Webster's Dictionary:

Happiness is an emotional and mental state of well-being, characterized by positive emotions ranging from contentment to intense joy. 

More analytically happiness has its foundation in emotional state, life satisfaction and a sense of purpose. Thus intrinsically tied to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), especially SDG 3 - Good Health and Well Being. 

The post about the Remitly report "Global Cost of Happiness" and a 2018 Purdue University study point to a price point per country for well-being. I had strong recall of the poignant and en point Mastercard commercials of the late 1900s ;) I feel no one before AI and social media algorithms could assess the pulse of the masses (read consumers) like ad agencies. 

There were many resonances in other indices. 

Hierarchy of Needs

Source: Bite-sized Learning

I fell down the rabbit hole of looking up the Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs as well as looking into the well-known World Happiness Report 2026 by the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network and its echoes and resonances in the Corruption Perceptions Index 2026 of Transparency International (TI) as well as the progress on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs Report 2026 - SDG Indicators). 

But I kept coming back to the succinct summaries of the Mastercard Ads. 

Mastercard Ad "Priceless" - Parents (India)

Happiness Echoes in Other Indices 

The UN Sustainable Development Goals Report 2026 and more TI's Corruption Perceptions Index echo a lot of what is deduced from Remitly's Global Cost of Happiness and the World Happiness Report. 

The resonances become clearer in the Visual Capitalist rendering of where happy people live (Global Happiness by Population, visualization of the World Happiness Report) and mapping of the world's most and least corrupt countries (visualization of the Corruption Perceptions Index).

Emergencies notwithstanding having "FU Money" reserves gives people options, time an power. In a way the financial cushion paved the way for happiness not desperation. The power to walk away is very empowering to the human psyche. Money flows within the community instead of austerity and outflows also improve quality of life  and livelihoods thus making people happy.

Mastercard Ad. 1997 - Baseball (USA)

Friendship, Community, Social Safety Nets 

Research over the years has lined happiness to not just the self but also the community.

 Friendships and family, community - the village it took to raise a child - is now needed to counter the creeping loneliness epidemic.

 This has been clinically researched and chronicled in the 2023 paper by Korean researchers "The relative importance of friendship to happiness increases with age." 

Female friendships have repeatedly shown to improve the state of mind and health of girls and women of all ages. In a world where suppressed feminine rage results in increased instances of autoimmune conditions in women and girls friendships are life saving beyond and because of the joy they give. 

Benjamin Radcliff a professor of political science at the University of Notre Dame way back in 2013 in his book The Political Economy of Human Happiness emphasized the importance of the social safety net in the pursuit of happiness.

 The third space as well as a vibrant community free of austerity and money outflows make for happy people and places. IMF and World Bank mandated austerity make for poorer and unhappy communities concentrating wealth in the wrong places where it doesn't empower people, places and communities. The Great Good Place by Ray Oldenburg, a seminal book from 1999 centering "cafes, coffee shops, bookstores, bars, hair salons and other hangouts at the heart of the community" emphasize the connection between well-being and the third space. The 2009 blog piece "Happy Places, Third Places" from Psychology Today, emphasizes and summarizes the takeaways from the book. 

Green spaces, blue spaces - a connection with nature help to make people happier and healthier. 

Places of faith and community festivals add to happiness as much as they add to invisible labor but remain deeply connected to a sense of community and well-being. 

What do you think makes you happy?

What do you think will make your community happier?

What will it take to make your country happier?

Food for thought on this the day of the God who is the remover of obstacles (Maha Sankathara Chaturthi - celebrating the Hindu elephant headed god of knowledge, beginnings and solutions),  As we think about the road to happiness here's hoping he and our guardian angels remove the hurdles on this path!

Sustainable City: Madras that was, Chennai that is!

 As mentioned in previous posts, August 22nd is observed as Madras Day and in 2026 my city - Madras that was and Chennai that is - celebrates its 387th day based on an approximation of a 22nd July/August 1639 land grant. Though as many city historians including V. Sriram puts it, the references to Madrasapattinam and various locales/villages of our city are many millennia old.

 

Madras Day is something I regularly post about for over 12 years now and I have been privileged to  participate in multiple Madras Heritage events including a sail in Chennai Harbour after a Heritage tour of it conducted by the Royal Madras Yacht Club. In 2018 and 2019 I posted on LinkedIn too about the indomitable Spirit of Chennai and its blue-green spaces. In 2020 during the pandemic and the subsequent Lockdown, Earth Overshoot Day coincided with Madras Day and I posted about it in this blog!

Climate Resilient Chennai 

As mentioned in my post on this blog about Tackling the Monsoon Mayhem, a lot of effort has been put to make Chennai a model Sustainable City. 

This includes among many others mainstreaming the 3-30-300 rule put forth by forestry expert Cecil Konijinendijk in the city - 3 trees in view, 30 percent green cover/canopy and no more than 300 metres from a green space or park! A city with a robust Climate Action Plan and Heat Action Plans with efforts to revitalize mangroves in fishbone canals as well as free up through bio-mining the city's ultimate sponge the Pallikarnai Marsh, which became a landfill - a massive garbage dump yard - instead of the flood guard that it was! Lake and temple pond restoration is another initiative to make Chennai flood-drought and heat resistant and basically climate resilient.

After decades of flood-drought cycles and cyclone rife Northeast Monsoon and being groundwater stressed with regular fears of running out of drinking water for the Greater Chennai's population and overdrawing the water table in order to compensate making the city vulnerable to earthquakes, the decades of mandated rainwater harvesting and more recent storm water and grey water recycling recharging the Buckingham canal at the edge of city limits where the iconic East Coast Road (ECR) and Old Mahabalipuram Road (OMR - now the IT Expressway within city limits) converge are all helping with ensuring water security. 

The traditional eri (ஏரி) system of  interconnected lakes and water tanks ensured water security and safety from floods. The encroachment of these by buildings and garbage dumping has been a major reason for the city's increased vulnerabilities to climate change exacerbated extreme weather and natural disasters. 

Award-Winning Sustainable Transport & This City

Though now disrupted by traffic made worse by the Chennai Metro construction, the city has always had ace public transport and connectivity. Digital ticketing, public transport reach and the Metro have secured multiple awards for Chennai in urban mobility (Global Sustainable Urban Mobility Project of the Year 2025 at the GEEF Global Sustainability Summit in New Delhi, November 2025). The metropolitan transport corporation's (MTC) buses, super charged with the EV and AC bus fleet as well as free travel in "white board" buses for women connect citywide. The Chennai Metro and the Local Electric Train (MRTS - "Parakkum Rail") are award-winning sustainable mobility transporting tens of thousands across the length and breath of the city. 

Efforts have been made to make the city more pedestrian friendly as well as disabled friendly though the efforts remain localized to posher areas and tourist hubs. But every step forward is a win when overall the world and India is becoming the domain of the car rather than that of the pedestrian, Supreme Court of India ruling notwithstanding ("Right To Walk" - The SC's Footpath Judgement). 

The Beginnings of Madras

This past year I have been reading and re-reading a unique her-story - A Woman of No Consequence:  Memory, Letters and Resistance in Madras by Kalpana Karunakaran that has given great insights into the city's past and the status of some of its women! 

Chennai Live has been curating some great content about the city's history for a while now all highlighted during Madras Week. 

The Scottish Connection: Artist Katherine Read 

A recent episode of the BBC programme Fake or Fortune (season 14, episode 2) highlighted the international Art World intertwined with Madras and Chennai's past and present. Chennai's very own Ashvita's Ashvin E. Rajagopalan, Art consultant extraordinaire and curator of Mumbai's Piramal Museum of Art was called in to find the origins of a painting by celebrated and pioneering Scottish woman artist Katherine Read's commissions while in Chennai which led to the Nawab of Arcot's family the Madras Court and expatriate community in the city centre - Chepauk Palace, Fort Museum and Katherine Read and others sailing into the Madras beach long before the Madras Harbour was constructed. 

The history lives on just beneath the surface of this cosmopolitan metro with a small town heart that reveals itself in charming anecdotes, art, culture and heritage. 

Namma Chennai

Ancient and modern coexist, multiple ecosystems and ethnicities coexist in this coastal marshland of a city of Ancient Shrines and IT Expressway. Ancient texts refer to "Kovalam, Neerlagandapuram/Thiruneelagandapuram, Mahabalipuram, Kancheepuram and Madarasapattinam" just as much as the many social media weather forecasters of the city call KTCC (Kanchipuram, Tiruvallur, Chennai, Chengalpattu).

Events line up to celebrate the heritage and culture of Chennai that is and Madras that was long after August, Madras Week and Madras Day 2026, but for residents, citizens and natives of Namma Chennai - Singara Chennai [Our Chennai - Beautiful Chennai] appreciation and love for the city, its spirit and culture, is forever. Beyond UNESCO recognized Margazhi-Kutchery music season and tourist traps our vibrant city shines in the everyday conveniences for its residents. We are privileged but there is also a lot more to do to make our city sustainable, resident friendly and climate resilient.   

 

Independence at 80

 August is a busy month the world over but especially in India.

This year in the lead up to our 80th Independence Day and 387th Madras Day (Founded: 22 Aug 1639). There are other natural and international landmarks to keep in mind which in turn shape the definition of Independence in the AI, information and internet age that is the 21st century. 

Friendship 

India celebrates the first Sunday of August as Friendship Day, while the UN observes it on July 30th, which this year was Earth Overshoot Day.

Friends they say are the family we choose and a good friend can make us better while a bad friend can ruin us. In geo-strategy and geo-politics that shape International Relations, friends matter. Be it Chanakya's Arthashastra, Machiavelli or Sun Tzu's Art of War, a nation's friends matter. In the interesting times we live in India's international influence, allies and influence are a key component of its development in 80 years of independence and millennia of civilizational centrality.

Under the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) the progress of the SDGs is also dependent on cooperation between nations, institutions and individuals - SDG 17 - Partnerships for the Goals 

Natural Resources that Need Protection

In August we observe International Marine Fish Day (Aug. 6th), Indigenous Peoples (August 9th) & World Lion Day (August 10, 2026) all in the first ten days of the month. 

By supporting, empowering and protecting these initiatives and keeping in mind the  significance year round, we can ensure that Life on Land (SDG 15) and Life Below Water (SDG 14) thrives among others. 

Empowering Indigenous People ensures multiple SDG wins.

  Conservation is built into the culture of indigenous peoples and communities that choose to honor their connection with Mother Earth and nature

Ensuring that marine fish thrive requires that our oceans are healthy which again boosts multiple SDGs. 

The Lion, like all wild cats, is an apex predator and healthy lion population are indicators of its thriving ecosystem. Protecting lions, increasing their habitat and prey by ensuring thriving, forests, grasslands and mangroves without human and industrial encroachment is a win-win for us all. As the Apex Predator, the lion thrives in a healthy ecosystem with minimal man-animal conflict and instead harnessing their presence to build local community stakeholdership in their success means growing sustainable tourism, and economic growth by creating new income streams. Thus ensuring sustainable communities living in areas with thriving forests and lions benefit from forest and predator health. 

Thus the news that Asiatic Lions have been spotted in Gujarat's mangroves in Amreli district is cause for celebration as it is an indicator of the mangroves thriving. 

Swadeshi & Swaraj: Handloom & Independence 

National Handloom Day is observed on August 7th in India. To honor the Swadeshi Movement that launched in Calcutta on 7 August 1905, National Handloom Day is observed across India. Textiles, especially hand woven natural fabric are woven into the fabric of Indian society just as much as the Khadi is woven into the Indian Independence Movement. 

Source: Press Information Bureau (PIB) of Government of India

The standard Indian Flag is made from Khadi fabric. 

Thus the days observed in the first third of August echo what one values about India's Independence 80 years on. As we move towards the Viksit Bharat (Developed India) with Atmanirbhar Bharat (Self-Reliant India) at its core, we need to ensure that our development embraces concepts of Sustainable Development and the Circular Economy. Also in our quest to become a developed nation the easy and moral method is to ensure that our most vulnerable and marginalized populations are empowered and mainstreamed in the roadmap to development:

 Reduced Inequalities, Climate Action and ensuring our air, water, soil and environment thrives so that life thrives are hallmarks and the gold standard of an Empowered and Independent, Model Developed Nation.