From extended PCOs to the more usual, upmarket, air-conditioned surroundings, the cafes offer at least the basics: A cup of coffee and a computer for Rs 50 an hour, where you can surf the Net.

And in one go, you can do so for 24 hours if you pay more. No other internet joint, anywhere in Delhi, is open all day and night.

The new cyberspace shareholders are happy about their newest enterprise. Because ``business is fun and the clientele is assured'': Foreigners who lodge in the 300-odd cheap hotels and guest houses in the area. Or NRIs who also watch their pockets when visiting Delhi.

Amid businessmen who otherwise prefer selling grains, cloth and talisman, or running hotels, Dikshit Arora and Harish Sethi have hit pay dirt in cyberspace.

Until November last year, they used to runtheir Hotel Gold Regency like any any other hotel. ``Then we had an idea, the Internet. We bought five computers, wrote to VSNL and reached cyberspace. A cybercafe was an obvious eventuality,'' says Dikshit Arora.

Business since then has upped, ``probably forever'', they say. Now they are planning an expansion. Their fellow cyberspace shareholders in the market, like Ravi Sharma and the Sunil Kumar, also agree. ``But Arora and Seth are far ahead of us,'' they add.

Why? The hotel partners have pumped in enough money to change their USP for their air-conditioned hotel-cum-cybercafe. ``You can eat, surf, drink and dance here''. There is a pastry shop, a coffee bar and three dining halls with live Ghazal performances. And a discotheque too. Also, a 24-hour money exchange counter, if you walk in with only dollars.

For surfing the Net here, all you have to pay is Rs 100 per hour. And if you want to check only your e-mail within 15 minutes, you pay Rs 25.

``Ideal for anyone who wants to spend an eventfulevening,'' says coffee shop owner Sunil Kumar. ``But there are many customers who would want to have less of everything else, and more of coffee and the Net. We offer just that.''

Sunil Kumar says he didn't have to do much to upgrade his profile. ``The coffee and the snacks were already there. I just had to get a couple of computers and an Internet connection.''

Others like Ravi Sharma did even less. He extended his PCO, and added `Internet facility is also available here' to his billboard which till then read ISD/STD/LOCAL.

When Londoner Simon Wilson, 31, was planning his third trip to Delhi, a friend ``recommended Paharganj''. Wilson is happy he ``gave it more than a thought'' and found Gold Regency.

Wilson, who works for a London-based television news channel, and his wife Sarah flew down to Delhi a fortnight ago. The couple have spent their days travelling around the city, and nights in front of a computer surfing the Net.

``We have been designing visiting cards, which we will print when wereturn to London. And we have been chatting with our friends for a fraction of the money we would have spent on an ISD call for the same amount of time,'' says Wilson. ``Also, this way I don't miss the newspapers back home''.

Economics, both in terms of lodging and communication, also prompted third generation Indian American Anter Thakur to choose Paharganj when he came to India four months ago.

``I have been doing a project as part of my graduation course in my college,'' says Thakur, 23, who is studying architecture in New York. ``Indian architecture fascinates me. Besides, it was an opportunity to know a little more about my roots.''

He has been staying in a hotel, cheaper and much further down the lane than where Gold Regency is, all these months. ``But I visit this area every evening and use the Internet in any of the shops. I have even written a whole exam on the e-mail.''

Thanks to Thakur and Wilson, or our own Delhiite Mainak, who visits the area ``just to unwind'', the business is booming.``I have ordered 15 computers,'' says grain merchant Duli Chand Jain in the same tone he orders 15 bags of rajma or 15 bags of masoor dal. ``The Internet is the in-thing, even in business.''