1/ Will Smith once asked in The Pursuit of Happyness: “Maybe...
Nirmalya Dutta@NonsensicalNemo
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Mar 21, 2025
~1 min read
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Will Smith once asked in The Pursuit of Happyness: “Maybe happiness is something we can only pursue and never have.”
The World Happiness Report 2025 seems to agree—at least when it comes to India, ranked 118th, below Pakistan.
Let’s unpack this absurdity. 🧵
Will Smith once asked in The Pursuit of Happyness: “Maybe happiness is something we can only pursue and never have.”
The World Happiness Report 2025 seems to agree—at least when it comes to India, ranked 118th, below Pakistan.
Let’s unpack this absurdity. 🧵
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India, a $3.7T economy, a rising global power, and a space-faring democracy, is apparently less “happy” than Pakistan—a debt-ridden, coup-prone state kept afloat by IMF bailouts and nostalgia for 1992.
How did we get here?
India, a $3.7T economy, a rising global power, and a space-faring democracy, is apparently less “happy” than Pakistan—a debt-ridden, coup-prone state kept afloat by IMF bailouts and nostalgia for 1992.
How did we get here?
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According to WHR 2025, India is less happy than:
Pakistan (109)
Libya (79)
Iran (99)
Rwanda (116)
Venezuela (82)
Iraq (101)
Apparently, military coups, economic collapse, and civil unrest are now ingredients for joy. Who knew?
According to WHR 2025, India is less happy than:
Pakistan (109)
Libya (79)
Iran (99)
Rwanda (116)
Venezuela (82)
Iraq (101)
Apparently, military coups, economic collapse, and civil unrest are now ingredients for joy. Who knew?
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The methodology? A “Cantril Ladder” self-assessment + 6 vague metrics: GDP, social support, health, freedom, generosity & corruption.
Translation: low expectations + media control = high “happiness.”
Dynamic democracies get punished for noisy self-awareness.
The methodology? A “Cantril Ladder” self-assessment + 6 vague metrics: GDP, social support, health, freedom, generosity & corruption.
Translation: low expectations + media control = high “happiness.”
Dynamic democracies get punished for noisy self-awareness.
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5/ Where India debates, aspires, complains, reforms—Pakistan accepts. It doesn’t aim for the summit anymore. It just rolls its rock and smiles. Like Camus said of Sisyphus: “One must imagine him happy.”
