Economists track GDP; real people feel price tags.
I felt that when I moved from Kochi to London at nineteen. I learned purchasing power parity from a bottle of Coke. Same sugary carbonated water. Different gravity. Every trip back, the number on the cap jumped ₹25, ₹35, ₹45 - while India was leapfrogging into UPI, electric scooters, and dirt-cheap data. London prices barely flinched. That quiet contrast helped me see how currency, tax, water economics, infrastructure, brand power, elasticity, demand, and aspiration all quietly twist the price of the same thing.