A recent YouTube video documenting “happiness” of people in Dhaka has proved to be a hit on social media, with many blogging that Bangladesh is indeed one of the happiest countries as various reports have suggested.
Pedestrians from a varying range of class, age, and gender in different areas of the capital shared their philosophy on happiness and their own experiences from life in a short video compiled by Farhan Hussain and his friends.
“Bangladesh is consistently ranked one of the happiest in the world and we wanted to find out how accurate this is,” the 5-minute video reads in the beginning.
In a phone interview with the Dhaka Tribune, Hussain, who started this during the summer, said: “You never see anything other than news when you search for Bangladesh, and I wanted to change that. I wanted to make something our people could relate to.”
Hussain is a second-year student at State University of New York. His friends Ejaz Mehedi, Safat Chowdhury, Sajeed Sarwar, Tahmid Azeez, Raihan Ansari, Salman Nahiyan worked with him on this project.
Hussain says about 100 people were originally interviewed, but they had to eliminate many clips in order to keep the video short. The final version, showing stories of about 20 people, documents their varying definitions of happiness.
“I just met my grandmother, so I am happy,” a young man smiles gleefully.
Some others discuss happiness as a vast phenomenon.
“Happiness is something you have to enjoy in your own way, and I am enjoying in it my own way,” says one lady.
Another says: “I have been happy ever since I was born. Happiness is a subjective matter, whatever I have achieved is happiness and what I haven’t isn’t sadness, but a driving to force to achieve it.”
A smiling rickshaw puller says: “By grace of God, I am happy!”
In a rather stark contrast to this, some express sorrow or remorse.
An elderly lady speaks of her husband’s death in a road accident in 2010. A young boy speaks about having been insulted by those around him.
“But I won’t give up,” he says. “Because nothing is impossible.”
Many in the video speak about being happy in personal life but not with the country.
“With the current situation, the lower and middle-income families like us are struggling a lot,” says a middle-aged man.
“In that regard, I am not happy, but I’m happy in my personal life,” he adds.
The theme of financial insecurity appears in other comments as well.
“I came here from Khulna for a job but with no reference; plus I haven’t completed my degree. So it might be a bit difficult,” an anxious youth says.
Interestingly, even those who speak about being unhappy or stressed do so with a tinge of smile on their face, generating a sense of hope in their responses.
The video ends with a little boy explaining why he is happy: “I am happy,” he giggles. “Because there is happiness!”
Lukewarm responses
Since Tuesday, the video has received more than 30,000 views and various comments.
“I absolutely started tearing up by the time the widow shared her tragedy...a beautiful film. Thank you,” commented one Atif Choudhury on YouTube.
“Thank you guys for doing this. The most amazing is your idea and sense of empathy. I am a Bangladeshi and I am happy,” wrote user Adnan R Amin.
The video also received criticism for lacking in variety of class. One Nathan Flintoff wrote only “middle or upper class” people were filmed.
“I tried to cover as much demographics as I could,” Hussain said over the phone. “But often, the ‘poverty’ in Bangladesh gets overrepresented to attract sympathy and I wanted to move away from that.”