Bangalore, City In A Deep Blue Funk

Asked ‘Are you happy?’, only 31% respondents here said they were "very happy"; 25% said they were "somewhat happy". That total of 56% happiness was lower than all the seven other cities polled by Outlook, and lower than the national average of 75%. Little wonder, 61% of Bangaloreans expressed willingness to buy a pill/drug or undergo a surgery if that would make them happy.

In contrast, Bangalore’s arch-rival for the IT City tag, Hyderabad, scored the highest on the overall happiness scale (92%) followed by Jaipur (82%), Mumbai (79%), Calcutta (75%), Ahmedabad (78%), Delhi (72%) and Ranchi (65%).

The poll was conducted for Outlook by market research agency Synovate, in eight cities: Mumbai, Delhi, Calcutta, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad, Jaipur and Ranchi. A total of 817 respondents, men and women in the age group of 25-55, were polled using a structured questionnaire between December 1 and 10. The major findings of the poll are:

• Just 19% respondents believe money can buy happiness, but this number shoots up in Bangalore (50%) and Mumbai (41%). In Ranchi, just 1% believe you can buy happiness.
• 76% believe god (or a godman) can bring happiness to their lives, although that figure is the lowest in Calcutta at 58%.
• Although 36% believe happiness is genetic, 99% believe their parents are/were much happier (55%) or somewhat happier (44%) than them. Bangalore was tops again with 75% believing their parents were happier and 61% saying happiness is in the genes. Ahmedabad followed a close second, with 74% believing that their parents were happier.
• Sachin Tendulkar (27%) is perceived to be happier than Amitabh Bachchan (23%), but Aishwarya Rai (34%) scores over both in Bangalore. Only 2% respondents felt Mukesh Ambani was happy.
• As a society, we believe peace of mind (52%) and good health (50%) will make us happier than workplace success (43%), family life (40%) or wealth (38%). Unhappy Bangalore threw up the most mute responses.
• Jealousy (44%), backbiting (40%), stress (30%) and poor health (28%) rank as the primary causes of unhappiness. Although 19% believe money can’t buy happiness, 24% attribute "lack of money" to their current state of unhappiness.
• 48% hold themselves responsible for their current state of unhappiness. This figure shoots to 71% in Mumbai, plunges to 19% in Bangalore. Surprisingly, only 9% see their bosses and superiors as their bugbears.
• 51% see hard work as the route to happiness (81% in Mumbai, 70% in Calcutta), followed by meditation (24%) and religion (21%). 36% are willing to take a salary cut or demotion if that made them happy.
• 56% believe people living in villages are happier, 47% believe unmarried people are happier, 63% believe a poor man can be happier than a rich man.
• Spending time with friends (54%), listening to music (45%), watching a film (28%), doing voluntary work (25%) and going for a walk are all likely to make Indians happy. If these don’t help, Porsche recently opened its outlets in the country.