I would like to add to Johal....
for starters in India, till the time you will go through your Demat account, PAN card etc etc....
You can have dummy stock profiles on ET or Moneycontrol, study the market and buy some stocks (just on your paper) and see how much good you are in reading the market.
I did that for 2 months before i started trading in 2005.
Never invest without studying or good advice from some trustworthy source, I am not trading in India now a days, as I am not getting time to read business news in India.
There are always some long term investment stocks, which will be profitable after an year or so. Keep checking when they are their yearly low nad buy
Ofcourse, diversify your portfolio and be patient......patience is the key.