Choices of life...

On way back home from work tonight in the local train, I was wondering about the time we all spend commuting, or rather the time we waste commuting to work. Believe it or not -- commuting takes away nearly 4 hours of my day, every day, day after day -- I shudder at the calculation of the number of "years" of my life that I would lose.
I am sure that is what most professionals in metros would feel.
But this is a lifestyle we want, we crave for, we desire?
My work often takes me to small towns all over the country. Earlier this month, I travelled to Jodhpur and Jaipur on work. It was refreshing to see the relaxed pace of life there. A casual conversation with a local person was enlightening -- he told me that he takes 10 minutes to commute to commute -- it would be a maximum of 20 minutes on a bad traffic day!
The social life, he said, begins after work, he continued. After reaching home, he said he found time to help his kids with homework, meet friends over a cup of tea, have a relaxed dinner and go to be bed by 10.30PM.
Boy, what a life!
My next question to him was on his career. Good it is, he replied. But he went on say that he knows that he could earn a lot more if he moved to a metro. Yet he chose to stay here in Jodhpur -- he said he wanted to feel and enjoy seeing his kids grow, he wanted to be with them, teach them the values of life. He further went on say that he made a choice in life and he was quite happy with that choice.
Tough choice I thought.
We know that the lives we lead are unsustainable. Yet we still live this unsustainable lives.
We are like chain-smokers -- we know it is detrimental to us, yet we still do it, just for the thrill, for the kick of it.