@hurtlocker : You seem to have completed your bachelor's in India too. I've been looking around and find that CEH is generally frowned upon in the hacker community, because they make you cram information not required. I will be trying for eLearnSecurity then, as and when the time comes!
Currently I will be working in jQuery as part of my internship, but I will definitely take some hours out for Python. I found the book you mentioned, Python for Gray Hats, and will buy that soon. I still feel a Masters in Information Assurance is a good idea. You would know how the Indian education system focuses on bookish education. A masters in the US would be a great hands-on learning experience : I still await some views on this!
I live in Delhi NCR, I only wish I lived in Bangalore...I used to but that was when I was a kid.  

@cd1zz : I'll take your word for this...I have no idea what pentesting is like. If it is that difficult to get into the field, well...the problem is that my campus placements will put me forward as a general software engineer. Might have to ask more people regarding this. I completely understand what you mean by saying that no company will want to hire me - it is the reason I decided not to do MTech in India and do a masters in the US.

More views are welcome! Thanks guys.

Hello there cd1zz!
I'm in India...I'm thinking of doing my masters in the US.
Ethical hacking and pentesting interest me the most. What would you suggest based on that?

Hello everyone.   
I'm currently doing my bachelor's in computer engineering, and I still have one and a half years to go, but the end is nearing. I've always wanted a career in infosec, and I've been wondering on what my next step should be after undergrad.
Going through the regular campus placement process in the fourth year would put me in as a software engineer. I want to start in the security field though.

I've been reading on and around these forums, how infosec is really fast-paced, dynamic, challenging. I used to be a lazy bum not anymore, and it would amount to working in a field I like. Anyway, here are some questions I'd like to ask -:

1. I've heard about masters in Information Assurance in some universities in the US. Should I be going directly for that after my undergrad? Capitol College seems enticing, considering the NSA-driven program they have. There are other universities too. Some of them require that the candidate have 2 years of prior experience. Please suggest some good unis if I should be going down this path - and I can handle my studies more than well. Also please advise me on whether I should work for a few years first or go for MS first.

2. Certs. I'm thinking of doing CEH after a good practical MS in the US...but CEH requires that I have 2 years of experience in the field. So that means I should look for a job after MS? There are various domains to infosec, or so I've heard. I want to be in the technical part, but learning about the management part wouldn't hurt either. Ethical hacking and pentesting seem interesting - it would be helpful if someone suggested certs on those lines. I would like to be in on the coding part too - I'm trying to learn some scripting languages such as Python and Ruby.
I'm planning to do CCNA on my own this summer - I don't have access to Cisco equipment, so the packet tracer software will have to do. I desperately want to upgrade myself on the real-world working of networks. I have bought the book by Todd Lammle and will delve into it starting Monday.

Well..nothing else seems to be coming to mind right now. I'll update this post as and when more queries come to mind. Any help is much appreciated!

Herp and derp xD

Thanks a lot y'all. Mailing all this....keep firing if there's more!  

@Kris : That deluge of information was extremely helpful! Thanks.
@3xban : Good old phishing and social engineering, plus movies on hacking and caution not to rip other authors off - check! Thanks.

Thanks a lot dynamik. All this definitely helps I will pass on this information to dad. If anyone else has their own views, they can still post! Thanks a bunch.

Ah, that is perfectly fine, and I came here looking for security pros!
Actually the whole situation is this - my dad's friend is working on the book, and dad wanted me to participate in this survey of questions but I'd refused....he said, what if I provide you the questions online, can you research for us? And so here I am.

Hello all, this is my first post on the venerated Ethical Hacker network forums. I have loads of questions regarding my future career in security, but I'll research people's posts more and save those for a later time.
I'll get straight to the point. A friend of mine is researching hacking and cracking for a book they're writing, which involves a "tech savvy young boy" (twat, I'd say..) who pulls off one of the biggest financial scams in history....through the help of cracking. I'll directly quote from the email I received -:

"From a basic story point of view the protagonist steals confidential data of high profile clients of a bank and launders money into a third party account by hacking (read : cracking) into the bank accounts of these clients. We have many questions about how he will carry out this crime, what information and expertise will he need etc. Following are some basic questions for you to get an idea of what kind of help we are seeking.

1. Is it possible for anybody to be in a small town far away from the city where the crime is being committed and still pull it off successfully?

2. What is the information that he will need from his accomplice working in that bank?

3. How will he carry out the scam by making sure he is not traced and at the worst his accomplice is accused of the crime?

4. What are the various processes of basic hacking of personal accounts and official accounts of larger consequence?

5. What kind of hardware/software will have to be installed in the bank for them to get the required information?

6. What position will the accomplice hold in the bank to be able to retrieve confidential information for the scam?"

As ridiculous as these questions may sound, I even questioned them whether they're preparing to pull off a financial scam themselves! Jokes apart, I would love to have the views of those experienced in professional security.
PS : Pardon any posting violations that I may have done, 'coz I couldn't think of a suitable forum to post this in. Plus if you think this whole topic is weird, I'm not at fault! Had nowhere else to go to ask.