Women bartenders up New Year spirit in capital

For the first time, women will serve drinks at private parties in Mehrauli

NEW DELHI: New Year parties in Delhi just got jazzier. For the first time, women bartenders will serve drinks at private parties in Mehrauli.  

Though Delhi is notorious for drunken brawls at New Year parties, a recent Supreme Court order has enabled trained women bartenders to cater to guests without being harassed.
 
“We have asked a woman bartender to serve drinks to our guests. Though nobody really bothers who is serving drinks at a party, since women bartenders are something new, we thought it was a good idea,” said Rajeev Agarwal, a businessman.        
“Women bartenders are common in the West. I see no reason why they shouldn’t be employed in India,” added Agarwal.

Two women bartenders have been flown in from Mumbai for New Year parties in the capital. However, prominent hotels in the city are yet to employ women bartenders.

“Women bartenders are not a novelty anymore. Most of the trained women bartenders work as freelancers,” said Satbi Bose, the country’s  first woman bartender and food and beverage expert.

“Women are much safer behind the bar counter rather than in front of it,” she quipped.

“Bartending is a professional job and women do not get harassed if they are serving drinks at a good place. There are so many people around that they are not harassed in bars,” she added.

“There is a myth that women are bound to be harassed if they serve drinks at parties and bars. I have been doing this job for the past 30 years and I have not been targeted or harassed ever,” she added.
     
Bose added that the infamous murder of model Jessica Lall was an exception. “Jessica Lall was not a bartender and she was at the wrong place at the wrong time. We should not stop women from working at bars but politicians should be asked to teach some manners to their children,” Bose said.