"I cancelled my trip and promptly decided to develop a Website to provide online visa forms. Now it has developed into something that offers much more than that," says the articulate teenager. Siddharth, a student of Air Force Bal Bharti School, Delhi, started his company, Cyberica Net Technologies, in February 2000 with just one engineer. In March he employed his father, Praveen Puri, who gave up his job in a multinational company to assist his son. The company today has five employees. Its young proprietor is careful not to disclose the turnover just yet. "I have invested about Rs 150,000 on a server and a little more. So far I have earned zero money," says the young entrepreneur. After "fiddling" with the Net for two years, which also included a brief detour for the crucial Class 10 board examinations, it is very thrilling for him to see the results. He has done his share of legwork too. "It was a very trying time, calling up embassies, listening to the harsh voices of receptionists, trying to explain myconcept," he says. He particularly remembers his encounter with a harsh embassy employee who argued with him over the availability of visa forms.

India Abroad News Service