A survey conducted in March among residents in the Arab world threw up a rather interesting finding. It’s one Oman can be truly proud of. If you’re happy and you know it, you’re more likely to be living in Buraimi.

The survey found that the residents of this sleepy little town bordering Al Ain in the UAE are the happiest people among those living in Arabia.

Buraimi topped the Happiness Survey with 88 per cent of respondents claiming to be happy, followed by Medinah, Saudi Arabia (83); Manama, Bahrain (67); Doha, Qatar (58); Al Ain, Fujairah and Umm al Quwain in UAE (56); Kuwait City (56); Suez, Egypt (56); Tangier, Morocco (56); Zarqa, Jordan (51); Tyre, Lebanon (50); and Damascus, Syria (48).

Carried out by Dubai-based Maktoob Research, the survey also found Oman has the highest percentage of happy people - 61 per cent -followed by Saudi Arabia (57), Qatar (56), Bahrain (54), Kuwait (53), UAE (52), Jordan (47), Egypt (46), Syria (46), Morocco (44) and Lebanon (35).

Conducted between March 11 and 17, among 7,434 residents of diverse nationalities across 11 countries in the GCC, Levant and North Africa region, the survey results came as a surprise, and still are for some residents of Buraimi.

In fact, the finding is in keeping with a global trend. The World Values Survey, based at the University of Michigan’s Institute for Social Research, found that happiness has increased in 45 of the 52 countries analysed from 1981 to 2007.

Life satisfaction rose in 63 per cent of the surveyed societies, and happiness increased in 87 per cent of these.

Another study - the Pew Global Attitudes Project undertaken by the Washington-based ‘fact-tank’, Pew Research Center - came to a similar conclusion last year. The 47-nation study found that people in much of Asia, Eastern Europe and Latin America expressed greater satisfaction with their personal lives in the last five years.

Closer to home, the World Map of Happiness drawn by the University of Leicester in the UK ranked Oman 30th among 178 countries surveyed in 2006. Once a part of the Buraimi Oasis comprising nine villages, the town has had its share of hardships off and on. Life in Buraimi revolves around its border crossing with Al Ain.

Citizens and residents of GCC countries are allowed to pass through the Al Mudeef crossing in Buraimi simply by presenting their passports. Any new crossing regulation that either country imposes throws life out of gear.

A July 2008 UAE directive to open the Al Mudeef crossing, following an earlier decision to close it to clamp down on illegal immigrants entering the two countries through Buraimi, made life easier for its residents.

But that wasn’t the first time the crossing was opened, or closed.

The survey’s finding demanded a visit to Buraimi, which we made during Ramadan - hoping to come back a little happier ourselves. Driving into town just as people were breaking fast, Buraimi wore a deserted look.

The empty roads were a welcome break from Muscat’s ever growing traffic. But at iftar time, even Muscat’s roads look inviting enough. So we had to wait until later to see the town’s traffic situation.

At the imposing Sultan Qaboos Mosque in the heart of the city, Khamis Mohammed al Harrasi was coming out of the prayer hall soon after iftar when we caught up with him. So, was he happy?

The 48-year-old didn’t look it and was quite simply dumbfounded when he was informed that he ought to be, considering he lives in Happy Land. “Who did this research? What do they mean by happiness?” the Emirati police department employee demanded to know.

Khamis lives in Buraimi and drives across the border every day to work in Al Ain. And that’s the routine for most residents of the town.

Issa al Suqri is a safety officer for an Emirati firm. He hadn’t heard of Maktoob’s survey but tried to attribute the town’s happiness to its history. “It was once an oasis, where people found refuge after long, treacherous treks through the desert. Maybe that’s why it’s a happy place,” he said, not entirely convinced himself.

But Amir Jilani, an Indian expat from Lucknow, apparently knew the secret behind Buraimi’s happiness quotient. The 32-year-old lives with his wife and three-year-old daughter in a rented apartment, next to the mosque, that he hares with his young brother Saif.

Both work for Etisalat in Al Ain and pay RO100 for their spacious - by any standard - two-bedroom apartment. Amir’s 17km drive to work across the border, including the formality of showing his passport at the crossing, takes him less than 30 minutes. Amir believes Buraimi’s happiness is more about being oblivious to undesirable global phenomena like inflation. In fact, he hoped house owners in town wouldn’t get to read this article.

“They’d surely get bad ideas like raising house rents if they did,” he said. “But where else can one live such a good life? The flat I rent wouldn’t cost anything less than AED7,000 in Al Ain; in Muscat, probably RO300. And there’s no  traffic; the roads are free no matter what hour of the day or night you drive. It’s really calm and peaceful here.”

Though Amir’s neighbour, Dr Mohammed Jehangir Ali, assistant professor in the Department of Business Administration and Accountancy at Buraimi College, hadn’t heard of the survey, he did however find his share of happiness. “It’s quiet and simple, excellent for residential purposes and what’s more, there’s no traffic. Life is peaceful,” said the native of Hyderabad, India. And peace and happiness, it seems, go hand in hand.

According to Ronald Inglehart, a political scientist at the University of Michigan’s Institute for Social Research, who directed the World Values Survey, there is a strong correlation between peace and happiness.

At Safeer Market, near Salam Hotel, our seemingly innocuous question to a sales girl in the garment section about her happiness quotient triggered off a salary renegotiation. Zuwaina al Gharib, single and 32, made no bones about the fact that she deserved an increment.

In November, she’ll complete ten years at Safeer Market. “How can I be happy when he (pointing at her boss) pays me so little?” she demanded to know from Ameer S M Baluch, GM of Safeer Market, rather than us.

Not one to back down in front of guests, Ameer laid bare the facts, which in effect proved that he was paying her more than the government has stipulated. “She’s actually here because she loves to be with us. People are kind and courteous; she’s happy here. She wouldn’t go anywhere else, even for more money,” Ameer said, while Zuwaina sheepishly nodded her consent.

Implausible as it might seem, the town owes its happiness to its hawa aur pani (water and air in Hindi), Mohammed Sayyed Farooq would have us believe. A resident of Buraimi since 1992, the native of Lucknow swears by the town’s water supply. “Even the Emiratis come here to take water by the tankerfull. It’s good enough to drink straight from the tap,” he said.

It may not be the safest thing to do, but Mohammed’s convinced by his theory. And you’d be too if you saw the Filipinos by the thousand on visa runs from the UAE hanging out at the hotel lobbies in Buraimi, some waiting for weeks for fresh visas to re-enter the UAE. They share rooms with five to eight others in the hotels - some eating a single meal a day to cut corners - and should be in tears, you’d expect.

But the scenes at the hotel lobbies, on the contrary, give you the impression of one big party. If it’s not in their nature to be unhappy even in such anxious circumstances, Mohammed’s hawa-pani theory must surely be at play here.

(With inputs from Khalid Orabi)