Cyber smart kid

Just four summers old. Think of him. Chubby cheeks, a countenance writ of innocence, and of course, an impishness that comes with kids. Ajay Puri is all of these and much more. He is a whiz kid, who effortlessly webs his way in the complex world of bits, bytes and programming.

In a crowded hall of the Administrative Staff College of India (ASCI) on Tuesday, Ajay chose to prove how and why he was different from other kids of his age. The boy, who is said to have started fiddling with computer keyboard at the age of one- and-a-half-year, came out with a presentation of his skills and made a progression from one software to another. From `Word-2000' to `Powerpoint-2000' and after excelling in `Excel-2000', he went on to design a website.

Using Microsoft Excel, Ajay designed a salary graph and responding to queries, arranged it in ascending and descending order. When Ajay's father, Ravi Puri, asked for an organisational chart, he chose the family structure to design it and explained, ``My father is head of the family. He takes care of mummy, myself and my brother.''

Quite conversant with e-mail, HTML, hyperlinks and formatting, Ajay remained nonchalant when a challenge on designing a website was thrown at him. A real kid's job, he seemed to say, as he went about the task and did it within minutes. At an age when kids fumble with alphabets, Ajay amazes with his ability on the keyboard, his ease in handling the mouse and designing web pages.

Having charmed the bigwigs, from Bill Clinton to Vajpayee and Bobby Deol to N. Chandrababu Naidu, Ajay, these days, is busy setting up his next rendezvous. Wondering who that is going to be? ``I am waiting to meet Bill Gates,'' Ajay comes out with his impish smile.

By T. Lalith Singh

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Section  : Southern States
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