Ajay Puri is five years old, and lives in Hyderabad. So what, you ask? Well, he may also be the world's youngest Web site designer -- running his own site called Microsoft Kid -- and is currently seeking entry into the Guinness and Limca books of world records.

Little wonder, then, that this tiny tot has become the cynosure of IT professionals in Hyderabad. He was invited, recently, to give a live demonstration of his computer skills to the IT club of the prestigious Administrative Staff College of India (ASCI).

Today, his younger brother Pritesh is also a networking professional, but faces none of the hassles. "I simply went online, found resources on certification and practice exams, joined a community of students appearing for the same test and was a qualified Microsoft Certified Software Engineer a few months down the line."

Clad in a suit, Ajay enthralled the audience with his mastery of Microsoft products using a laptop gifted to him by IBM. Onlookers were left spellbound with his impromptu designing of a three-page website using FrontPage 2000 software gifted to him by Microsoft, Thailand. He inserted pictures, typed out documents with all formatting, created graphs, sorted out data list, created sub-totals, performed query operations, mail merge, and created a power presentation with all animation and sound.

Needless to say, as the youngest guest (he turns five on September 12 this year), he received a standing ovation.

Ravi Puri, the whiz kid's father, works as an IT professional with the Aditya Birla group at Bangkok. Using a PowerPoint presentation to introduce his precocious son, he recalled: "When Ajay was just nine months old, his grandfather taught him to type alphabets on the computer."

Ajay began using computers at the age of a year and a half. He demonstrated his skills before a team of Microsoft engineers at the age of two, and went on to design his own site at three. "Ajay created his Web site with all hyperlinks, thumbnails, background music, frames, DHTML, forms, etc. using FrontPage 2000. He is a big fan of Bill Gates, whom he considers his mentor and idol, and uses only Microsoft products," added the proud father.

Bill Gates responded with an autographed copy of 'Business @ Speed of Thought' and added a message "To Dear Ajay. Congratulations and Best Wishes" a month ago. Ajay was also a special guest during the visit of Bill Clinton and his daughter Chelsea, in March 2000, and left both impressed with his talent and achievements.

A kindergarten student at the prestigious Harrow International School at Bangkok, he is, at present, with his grandparents on a 15-day vacation. "We really feel proud of him," says mother Mamta Puri, a housewife and fashion designer. "We don't want to force him into anything. If his interests change later, we don't know."

Ajay can use Microsoft products such as Word 2000, Excel 2000, PowerPoint 2000, Outlook Express, Internet Explorer, FrontPage 2000, Access Database, and Windows 2000, and plans to start learning VisualBasic with SQL servers and networking with Window 2000 servers soon. He sends out email, knows his keyboard well, scans pictures, records video-mail, talks live online, uses instant messengers, and also uses Macromedia Flash 5.0, Ulead Gif Animator, etc.

As his father points out, "Ajay can do more than an average professional in an office can."

Most employers would agree.

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