Third World Country Happiness

My 20 year old son asked a question to which I have no answer.

We’d spent 2 hours  neck deep in the Arabian Sea,  wave-bashing at Candolim Beach and eaten the most amazing Goan Prawn curry ever made over a fun conversation with the chef-owner under his large old mango tree.

Everywhere we turned people were in a state of bliss – irrespective of whether they were locals of Goa or recent immigrants from Karnataka, irrespective of how close or far they were from the poverty line.

And so this question came to him as he viewed Goa & India through the eyes of a non-resident.

” If people here are always so happy, why is this called a third world country?”

No idea Son!

But the world is obviously caught up in the wrong measures and metrics.

An old chinese saying “You can never have enough pf what you didn’t want in the first place” might provide the answer…

jm

dec 2011