During our recent trip to Kumbakonam in South India, my wife and I took the opportunity of visiting many rural areas around. It was one of the most satisfying trips that we ever had.

In this trip, our objective was not merely to visit the temples but to learn more about the lifestyle of people in the villages. What’s most interesting is to observe how the rural people make a living and how happy they are even without much money in their lives. We went trekking on the narrow and Mangudi-Konakkarai road close to the banks of Cauvery river. The rough clumsy and winding road had clutters of small huts lined on either side surrounded by dense trees that appeared like a rain forest. The journey provided us opportunities to meet with many rural folks. They seemed very happy, merrily engaged in weaving mats, picking flowers and vegetables, drying coconuts and performing a variety of mundane jobs. On a gentle conversation, they expressed happiness through their body language and choice of words.  Some of the kids playing around were wearing only their beautiful smiles.

We saw a woman carrying several short white stems of banana trees. We bought four pieces from her and gave her  Rs. 20. She declined the Rs. 20 note and said ‘Sir, please give me Rs.10 only. It is more than enough for me and I do not want more.’ Her words left me stunned. It reflected her code of conduct and a supreme contentment. How exactly she had inherited such wonderful qualities?

The clue came from a poster that I saw on the walls of one of the huts. It was an announcement of the 1341st birthday of a king called the Third Suvaramara Muthraiyer. The local folks said that they belonged to a community called ‘Muthraiyar’ and were followers of the great tradition set by a King Mutharaja, a renowned chieftain who lived sometime in 5th or 6th century A.D. This king himself was believed to be a descendant of Kannappa Nayanar, a great devotee of Lord Shiva, who offered his own eyes to replace the bleeding eyes on the Shivalingam. The code of conduct set by this king included honesty, truth, and service to others. We learnt that the community living there was very peaceful, contented and the incidence of thefts or other crimes was very low.

Think about it! How different are our urban attitudes, and how indifferent are the most educated people?

Having a personal code of conduct is a powerful source of contentment to help you respond to challenging life situations. Judging by western standards, the poor rural folks I met had really no reasons to be happy. Yet they were supremely happy and lived on their own terms! Is there a lesson for us to learn from them?