Last Tuesday, I was talking to a friend who was planning to go the UK for a course on journalism. I asked her how she was going to fund her way. ?It?s all been fixed,? she said. She then told me about www.vidyapatha.com. Her enthusiasm was infectious and that very evening I sat down to browse through the site.

I found it?s really a great resource for students and parents alike, for it gives all the information on availing finances to meet the expense of tuition fees, books and other equipment.

The site has uploaded a host of information on various fields like admission notifications, a free career counselling page, a personality development page, and so on. And you must check out the ?Indian scientists? section. It will tell you all about our great scientists ? from Susruta and Charaka to modern geniuses like P.C. Mahalanobis and S.K. Mitra ? and their contributions to the world.

But the most helpful sections are ?Scholarships? and ?Educational loans?. The former assists outstanding young students at an important stage of their career. It keeps you updated on various schemes and fellowships awarded by the Government of India as well as by private institutions. ?Educational loans? has details on the various schemes and criteria on loans given by the nationalised banks.

My friend, on her part, opted for the ?Scholarships? section. This was because, as she told me, with scholarships you don?t need to ?worry about repayment?. Sensible girl!

So stop running from pillar to post. Instead, run post-haste to the nearest net caf? and log on to www.vidyapatha.com.

Monojit Das Gupta

monojit@abpmail.com