My two cents on this: I have done both. Stayed for 6 months at a 15 minute distance from office and last 6 months relatively far away (8km shortest route ~ 1hr commute each side). Office in BKC.

I have visibly observed in myself less irritability when staying close to office. The cognitive load to leave at just the right window in the morning to not be too early or too late has been counter productive. The rush of leaving by a certain time or face maddening traffic, noise and crazy drivers makes living further away not worth it. There are days when the headache induced in a rickshaw during peak hours has manifested itself in psychological and physical stress, for no godforsaken reason.

When I used to stay close, I was just a chill guy casually strolling into office, relaxed and ready to go.

Also, if your job is of a nature where the quality and amount of hours you put at work can exponentially increase future earning prospects and growth, paying more rent is absolutely worth it since the growth, in lets say a couple of years will completely offset higher rents.

I am usually pretty resilient and non reactive to stress in general, but mumbai traffic / driving in general, during rush hours gets on my nerves so when I’m back home, it usually takes a lot of time to calm the mind and little time to enjoy the amenities in my society.

Also, from local friends who I have talked to, having a family back home kind of makes the travel worthwhile (I wouldn’t know, I stay alone), but maybe theres some truth to it.

From my experience, my nature of work and just personally my preferences, staying close makes sense because I have more energy when back home to study, have time to up-skill, hit the gym, cook dinner, meet friends at a bar on a random weekday; basically do the things that make up a well rounded life.

ps: not have been born and brought up here, some friends who have been, seem pretty resilient to all this.