Patna: The Indian railways have transformed a small station in Bihar into a ‘Happiness Junction’, with plenty of facilities for all age groups, apparently taking a cue from the Gross National Happiness (GNH) idea of Bhutan, a tiny Himalayan nation that is one of India’s neighbours.

Sonepur Junction, which falls under East Central Railway, is located across the Ganges in Saran district. Sonepur is also famous for the Asia’s biggest cattle fair, an annual event which attracts a huge number of visitors.

The idea is aimed at making passengers happy during their brief stopover by making available to them a variety of facilities and also giving them the chance to perform charity.

Under this plan, facilities such as television programmes, books, journals and newspapers have been arranged for passengers waiting for trains to arrive, which sometimes turns into an agonising wait. The authorities have also organised a “kids’ zone” at the platform so that children can have fun, too.

“We are providing all reading materials as well entertainment facilities to the passengers to keep them engaged in variety of entertaining games, quiz contests and other charity works,” said senior divisional commercial manager Dileep Kumar, whose brainchild the project is. According to him, the idea is to get the waiting passengers engaged in constructive and cultural activities so that they don’t feel bored while waiting for trains and leave the station on a cheerful note.

A special feature of this Happiness Junction is the “goodwill wall”, which provides the passengers the rare opportunity to do something for the welfare of humanity. A message on the wall urges the passengers to leave something there — such as old clothes, bags, towels, handkerchiefs, water bottles, etc — which they think are “useless” to them and take away anything which they find useful.

“In that way, everyone could get a share of happiness in life by way of charity as it will bring colours in the life of the needy,” Kumar explained. “People who have many useless things with them will quietly donate and the needy will have the chance to quietly take things which they really require,” he added.

So far, Bhutan is best known for the happiness index. Since 1971, the country has rejected the GDP (Gross Domestic Product) as the means to measure happiness and used in its place the GNH as the index which measures prosperity on the basis of the spiritual, physical, social and environmental health of its citizens. Unique among the community of nations, it is said to be a balanced “middle path” in which equitable socioeconomic development is integrated with environmental conservation, cultural promotion and good governance.