I started writing anonymously but I have included a ton of details, I am pretty sure if you make enough effort you will be able to find out my identity, I humbly request you not to.

Background:
4th year B.E. CS Tier 1 (idk if BITS Pilani is considered Tier 1 now)
Internship at Walmart(NLP based project, not software dev based project, no publication)
Internship at CDAC Pune(Docker Based project)
Internship at IISc (ongoing)
Current Offer, Walmart SDE 2 PPO Comp not known yet (probably between 25-27 LPA CTC)

I have had a pretty rough couple of years at college, bringing my CGPA down to a low 8 from a high 9 in the first few semesters. I have also become disillusioned with the indian job market. I used to be a pretty oblivious student, happy to study CS on my own but pretty much everyone has ended up with a better job offer than me in my immediate friend group or a masters admit.

I hate to compare, but I feel very hurt and insecure. I am also troubled by the state of diversity hires, I recognize how harmful the patriarchy is towards women but seeing them being chosen for IIT seats and then also for jobs first hand, is very dissapointing.

there is a general disrespect towards indian engineers. Why are we paid less than everywhere else in the world, because of our location, doesnt software travel across the world and affect everyone?

I look at levels.fyi and other US focused sites and I have done the math and I see the difference. I figure the only way to escape from all this is to move to the US job market as soon as possible. I have seen my father suffer for all these years trying to provide for us all and I am not strong enough to do that.

I would appreciate the communities advice related to the same. I would ideally like to move through my job, because I can then earn all the time. This would be ideal because there is some expectation from my family to start earning now.

some questions/pointers that I hope can be answered by the discussion that follows.
Job VS Masters

1. Is doing a masters worth the time and money investment? I would ideally like to go to a top 50 if not a top 20 school that will require publications in the fields that I am interested in, but that would require an investment of a couple of years an RA or a research position at microsoft research or google research(please let me know if there are more industrial research oppurtunities of undergrads)
2. Is there a difference in pay for masters/internal transfer? I have heard that students on an H1B get paid more than people on a L1 visa and that L1 is more restrictive too.
3. How should I think about money/personal fulfilment when given the choice to work as a machine learning engineer(will require a masters from t50 and my dream job) or a regular SDE on L1 visa.

Masters
1.Should I go for a masters right now in any college that will have me as a means of settling in the US or wait for a couple of years, try to publish papers in my domain and aim for a T20.
2.I would also like a chance to relive some of my college life that I lost during COVID. I feel like this is a trap as it will again be a ratrace once I get there, but that is acceptable to me.