Notes

On MBA vs MS/Mtech
The decision was invariably made during the undergrad years. So there'll be a premise - brief about my thought process before undergrad, then The Turn - the undergrad years, and then the chaos that prevails now.
The premise: In my family, we don't have a lot of pure science or art grads. So education has invariably been a tool to get jobs. 3. 4. The better your grades, 5 you'll probably end up better. Acads came easy to me, and care was taken I don't get distracted (whatever be the apt distraction at the age group). And I loved science, in a more purist sense. Not for the potential high package, but just the wonder of it. But the guys driving an Audi in South Mumbai were mostly a partner at some firm. And these were the guys my father talked about. And I liked cars. I still do. Engineering marvel.
JEE days were a struggle because the whole exploratory nature of science was done with. Things were mathematical, and couldn't develop intuition. I liked the science that had a theory that explained everything. Not the one that had only equations as the absolute truth.
tl;dr: Initially loved science, +2 made me question that. The env appreciated financial achievements. Nothing was demonically wrong.

The turn:
I meet the prodigies. These fuckers don't study and get all the marks. But they still fucking study. And talent + hard work, I am outcompeted. And the inherent love for science is all gone. I feel like rest of the folks, studying so probably I can graduate in 4 years. And science/engg continues to be mathematical. And I dont really like the entire process of going very deep inside a topic. I can appreciate the nuances, the beauty of it, but wouldn't want to do it for life. I would want to be jack of many trades, than master of one or two. I conclude that I wouldn't want to pursue a purely academic career. So PhD + post doc line is out (I would probably enjoy the PhD, but if I don't continue in research, whats the point). That still leaves industry research and corporate for me. IBM/Google/Intel all these have major research work. And then I read about it. Not everyone at Google is making the Deep Mind AI, and not everyone at intel is making the next big thing. Their goals are aimed at benefiting the business, and if it means to get more people to click on ad, so be it. And that would be a disappointment to a purist endeavour. And most folks here are the guys who couldnt make peace with academic research. And that's another thing.
The people I would want around me. Researchers have this tendency to live in a bubble. With hyper focus, comes the limitation of narrow vision. I saw the profs at campus, most of them weren't cool enough that I would want to be them one day. They had major publications, awesome research, but no charisma.

The MS question. So MS would again be to get an industry job. I'd probably join as an Engineer and rise up the hierarchy. The guys at top are just managing the guys below. The top would be CXO level. An MS in US would bring all the US based benefits, and a job there would be good too.

MBA?
That leaves me with MBA. It promises good pay there. Better chance at making to CXO level. And since business, you'll be much closer to the real world problem. And ghar wale always thought this is the natural progression.
Also, the startup fascination. I've read about a lot of the business folks Steve Jobs, Bezos, Musk, Murthy, I'd want to have a something of my own someday. MBA doesn't close that path, and probably helps me maintain relevance.

The preset dilemma.
My plan was to make it to management consulting. There are these three firms Mckinsey, BCG, Bain, often called MBB. By the nature of job, its more of width and less of depth (something I presume I'd love). And MBB has some of the smartest guys. I think it would be a good place for me for atleast 4-5 years, after which I would probably move to a startup / industry.
MBB hire primarily from IIM ABC (about 80% of their requirement), a few from XL, IIM L and a few others. With the whole COVID thing, they would be hiring very few folks. This might mean they visit only the ABC, and ditch everything.