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A few anxious minutes outside the labour room and then they hear that feeble wail. KHRV Sriram and VS Babu pick the cue and furiously punch into their laptop. Minutes later, the newborn's horoscope is out, fresh from the printer.

Sriram and Babu are not very different from astrologers, except their workstation is usually the hospital maternity ward or right outside the operation theatre. On their rolls is Palkollu Raju, an astrologer who reads the stars for them. The computer does the rest.

So every morning, Sriram and Babu go to hospitals in the port city of Visakhapatnam and peddle 'instant horoscopes'. They charge Rs 175 for a basic horoscope and Rs 500 for a detailed one, which takes up to three hours. They hand over a hard copy as well as a compact disc of the horoscope to the family.

"Sometimes even before the child is born and the mother is wheeled out of the delivery room, the duo delivers the horoscopes. In this age of instant gratification, who wants to wait and that too when the fee is only Rs 175," asked Narasimha, an attendant at King George Hospital.

Years ago, when the duo passed out of college, they had other dreams. But when the stars did not favour them with jobs of their choice, they decided to use the stars for a living. Luckily for them, the stars smiled and today, the duo is a big hit in Visakhapatnam.

"I came from my native town Bhimavaram to look for a job in this city. I tried various jobs but they were neither satisfying nor paying. I thought of this horoscope business and suggested it to my friend Babu. We invested whatever little we had saved over the years on a computer and a printer and enlisted the support of an astrologer," said Sriram.

Their success has spurred them to expand their services to other towns as well as tap other niche areas such as more customised services for their top paying clients.