Bengaluru, September 2026.
For a city better known for start-up valuations, deadlines and traffic, September 24 offered something different.
More than a dozen voices from cinema, public service, business, spirituality and wellness met on one stage to ask a simple question: what does it really take to be happpy?
The World 3 Ps Happpiness Summit 2026, billed as India’s first, was held at New Horizon College of Engineering (New Horizon Knowledge Park), Bengaluru. It was hosted by Happpy AiR — Atman in Ravi, the city’s Happpiness Ambassador. The extra “p” in Happpiness is deliberate. It stands for the three pillars at the heart of Happpy AiR’s philosophy: Pleasure, Peace and Purpose.
What it was
The World 3 Ps Happpiness Summit was a full-day programme of keynotes, panels and reflective sessions on wellbeing, fulfilment and how happiness fits into everyday life. A student-focused festival came first: on September 23, the New Horizon campus hosted short films, group singing, two-minute talks, acting and group dance, all built around human values, relationships, peace and positivity. The headline summit followed on September 24.
The summit was part of the wider #Happpy.AiR.Movement. Its central idea is that happpiness is not a reward waiting at the end of the next promotion or milestone. As Happpy AiR put it in the run-up to the event, happiness “is not a destination we arrive at”. It is something to be experienced in the present.
Why it was organised
India’s numbers on wellbeing are sobering. The country ranked 118th of 147 in the World Happiness Report 2025. Figures cited in Happpy AiR’s earlier Pause for Happpiness campaign put chronic stress at 74% of Indians and burnout at more than 70% of urban professionals.
The summit was meant as a counterweight. In a city that runs on ambition, organisers wanted to start a public conversation about happiness beyond salaries, titles and social status. Sessions covered purpose, relationships, inner peace, mental wellbeing and the pressures that come with modern success. The stated long-term goal was bold: “to make Bengaluru the world’s happpiest city,”
a benchmark for wellbeing as well as innovation.
Who it was for
The summit was open to the public. It spoke most directly to two groups:
Students and young people, the focus of the September 23 campus festival and a central audience for New Horizon, the summit’s host institution.
Bengaluru’s working professionals, educators and leaders: the people feeling the pressure of a high-performance city. The Champion Awards were aimed at them, recognising those who build happier, healthier workplaces.
The organiser: Happpy AiR — Atman in Ravi
Born in Bengaluru in 1966, Happpy AiR built a successful retail business that included the well-known Kemp Fort stores. At 40, he stepped away from commerce to devote himself to humanitarian, inspirational and spiritual work. He has written more than 100 books, including Happiness is Success (Rupa), and is a regular speaker on podcasts and campuses.
His public happiness work in Bengaluru goes back years. It includes distributing more than 10,000 happiness goody bags on International Day of Happiness, the Pause for Happpiness campaign against burnout (December 2025 to January 2026), and a citywide Happpy AiR Parade with the Bengaluru Traffic Police in January 2026.
Speakers and sessions
The day opened with the lighting of the lamp and an invocation led by Mohan Manghnani, followed by a carefully arranged mix of keynotes and panels.
Dr Kiran Bedi:
Fundamentals of Happpiness. India’s first woman IPS officer gave the summit its most disciplined note. She urged the audience to ask themselves honestly whether they had earned something before wanting it. She also encouraged them to treat problems as opportunities for growth and to make self-talk, spoken or silent, a daily habit of reflection.
Arjun Kapoor:
The Secret of Happpiness. The actor spoke openly about how achievement relates to inner peace and purpose. He said he connected with the idea that happpiness is about presence and self-understanding, not an endless chase through life’s highs and lows.
Panel: Success and Happpiness.
From left Govind Mahtani, Nikhil Kamath, Shareen Ratnani, Hema Sardesai and Happpy AiR
Govind Mahtani, Shareen Ratnani, Nikhil Kamath and singer Hema Sardesai discussed whether success and happpiness go together, and what happens when they don’t.
Dr Saamdu Chetri:
Dr Saamdu Chetri on Gross National Happiness Initiative (GNH) in Bhutan
The Gross National Happiness Perspective. A pioneer of Bhutan’s Gross National Happiness philosophy, Dr Chetri brought a global view. He made the case for measuring a society’s progress by wellbeing as well as wealth.
Panel: Manifestation of Happpiness.
From left Rohit Khandelwal, Tarun Mishra, Dr Amiett Kumar, Bhupendra Singh and Happpy AiR
Dr Amiett Kumar, Tarun Mishra, Rohit Khandelwal and Bhupendra Singh explored how intention and mindset shape lived happiness.
Sonu Sharma:
Sonu Sharma at The World 3Ps Happpiness Summit
Daily Happpiness Strategies. The entrepreneur and motivational speaker offered practical ways to stay happy in ordinary routines.
Aisshwarya DKS:
The Science of Happpiness. This session looked at the research behind wellbeing.
Panel: The Art of Being Happpy.
From left Dr Aadhyaa Kumar, Renuka Goswami, Dr Archika Sudhanshu and Happpy AiR
Dr Archika Sudhanshu (Archika Didi), Dr Aadhyaa Kumar and Renuka Goswami discussed living a balanced, joyful life. Archika Didi spoke about loneliness, anxiety and emotional distress. She offered a three-part path of Shanti (peace), Khushi (happiness) and Tripti (contentment), and argued that joy grows from within rather than from external achievement.
Shilpa Shetty Kundra:
The 3 Keys to Eternal Happpiness. The actor and wellness advocate closed the day with the keynote. She spoke about gratitude, health, family and personal wellbeing, and reminded the audience that “gratitude is something that you have to practise”. She added that anyone blessed with good health and family already has a reason to be happpy.
The outcome
A shared resolve. The summit closed with a collective commitment to make Bengaluru the world’s happpiest city.
Happpiness Champion Awards. Individuals and organisations were honoured for creating a “happpier world of work”, meaning workplaces where people enjoy what they do, find harmony and connect with deeper meaning. Happpy AiR presented the trophies and certificates. Recipients included Dr D.D. Padma Priya (Senior Assistant Professor, Applied Sciences, New Horizon College of Engineering) and Radhika O and Uma Bhat of New Horizon Public School, who were recognised for their commitment as educators.
The movement continues. The summit formally widened the #Happpy.AiR.Movement, a continuing public conversation on inner peace and purposeful living.
In Happpy AiR’s own words, hundreds came together not to pursue happpiness, but to experience it.
Public response
The summit drew hundreds of attendees across the day and wide coverage in national, regional and entertainment media, including The Hans India, Deccan Chronicle, Telangana Today, Bollywood Hungama and Passionate in Marketing.
Feedback from attendees was warm. New Horizon Public School educators who attended called the experience “truly enriching”. They said they left with useful insights on positivity, inner peace, meaningful relationships and purposeful living, which they could take into both their personal and professional lives. Coverage of the event focused on its central idea that happpiness is a daily practice rather than a finishing line.
Bengaluru Police and the Happpiness movement
Public service had a strong voice on stage through Dr Kiran Bedi, whose decades in the Indian Police Service gave her talk on discipline and self-reflection extra weight.
The movement also has an established partnership with the city’s police. In January 2026, Happpy AiR and the Bengaluru Traffic Police led the Happpy AiR Parade. It ran from Kemp Fort on Old Airport Road through Indiranagar, Koramangala, Brigade Road, Commercial Street and MG Road. Traffic personnel handed out smiley happpiness balls at busy junctions, mixing road-safety reminders with a simple message: pause, smile and be happpy. Nearly 100 volunteers took part, and thousands of residents joined in along the route.
Why it matters
Bengaluru is often called India’s Silicon Valley, a place where ambition is the default setting. The World 3 Ps Happpiness Summit asked whether the city could be known for its wellbeing too. With Bollywood stars, a former top police officer, a Bhutanese happiness pioneer, spiritual teachers and young students all in one room, the first edition made a confident start. If its closing resolve holds, Bengaluru’s next big export may be happpiness.
About Happpy AiR — Atman in Ravi,
The Happpiness Ambassador, is a transformational author of over 110
books, a TEDx speaker, lyricist and singer of more than 1,500 life songs, a philanthropist for over three decades, and an Awakened Soul on a mission to Touch, Trigger and Transform lives, and to make this a Happpy world.
The Happpy AiR Movement led by him is a movement to inspire people to discover true, lasting Happpiness through the 3 P Happpiness philosophy, and spread Happpiness to others.
The movement encourages people to go beyond temporary Pleasure and discover the deeper joy and fulfillment of Peace and Purpose. Pleasure, Peace and Purpose are the 3 Ps, the 3 keys to Eternal Happpiness.
Website: air.ind.in | https://links.air.ind.in/