When I was a kid, the West meant one thing: abundance.

I remember a documentary we watched in school. Farmers in the US. Wide open land. And somewhere in the background, a Ferrari parked outside a barn. A farmer. I did not know what taxes were. I did not know what cost of living meant. I just knew that over there, even the people growing food were doing well.

I compared that to India without even thinking about it. The difference was not small. That image lived in my head for years.

Fast forward. I am 22. I have been in Canada for more than three years. And I am watching something that nobody in my hometown would believe if I told them.

People earning $100,000 a year, which back home sounds like generational wealth, are telling me they are one car repair away from a bad month. Rent takes $2,200 before they have bought a single thing. Groceries for one person, $300 a month easy. Transit, phone, student loan payments, taxes. And suddenly that six figure number has maybe $800 left at the end of the month if you are lucky.

The salary is real. The math just does not work the way I thought it would. Nobody lied to me exactly. But nobody told me the full picture either.