Unlike the people of the country, several generations past who pursued their callings in their respective settlements, their counterparts of the land nowadays seem to be on the move both within the country and offshore destinations triggered by many factors including family-related issues, better opportunities for starting enterprises, more comforting weather, transfers by the employing agencies such as Government, desire to change of location to live, sense of safety away from disturbed conditions in public life, reunion with their sons and daughters taking residence away from ancestral home and so on. If asked whether they are happy in either their settlements or in their changed environs, they are sure to respond revealing many fascinating features which should interest sociologists in particular and lay people in general. Some may regret about their choice between stay-put in their soil and seeking a difference in location while the rest may not be none the worse for their act. While there is no law concerning movement of people in exodus under peaceful conditions, they are totally free to take residence in any region of the country, now including the two newly created Union Territories where that was not possible until abrogation of Article 370 of the Constitution.
Scholars may enlighten us to get clarity about comfort and happiness as one impacts the other. The sense of comfort has its role in the ongoing feature of rustics moving to cities on an unprecedented scale. Whether they also experience the more important sense of happiness is a matter of comparison between their former home and their new unfamiliar environs, despite landing a job with assured income.
