Raising the bar

"Alcohol is a weakness for men. Money is a weakness for men. With two temptations staring them in the face, getting them to do the right thing can create a lot of stress,” says Zeeba Namdarian who has over the years learnt that a proficient bar manager needs to be "skilled in both people management and staff management.” And even more so if she is a woman for generally men don’t like to take instructions from a woman.

Armed with a certificate after attending an eight-month bartender’s course nearly a decade ago Namdarian thought she was well equipped to handle the domain of drinks although she was the only woman in a batch of around 20. "We were taught the basics…all about alcohol and wine and how to make basic cocktails. That knowledge was very theoretical. We were not taught that there would be a lot of interaction with the customers, that we would require a lot of speed, that there are long working hours, that there is a lot of cash handling and money matters to be dealt with…” she elaborates.

"This is a job which requires a lot of physical strength and mental alertness, flair and style. You need to make the evening fun for the customer so that he wants to come back to you.” The style she imbibed after "seeing a lot of videos.” After a pause she enquires of us, "Am I talking too much?” Once she is reassured that we are here to gain an insight into her and her bartending profession, she continues, "Your communication skills and personality are important. You have to understand the customer and then serve him a drink. Not only the menu drink. I tell my clients ‘Leave it to me. I’ll make you a good drink. If you like it, you pay me… otherwise not.’

"It’s not what you do. It’s how you do it” that makes an impact, says Namdarian who soon after the bartending course was invited to work at Indigo at Colaba. After a brief stint there she got an offer to set up the Karma Liquid Lounge at Opera House where she worked for two years until she was asked to design Suzie Wong, the lounge bar on a boat near Chowpatty. Thereafter she is happier doing private parties and accepting assignments from event management companies.

A woman as a bar manager finds herself in a difficult position, reveals Namdarian. "Alcohol can be tranquilizing. Men can lose control. Juniors can cheat. They are tempted to drink. But you always come to know if a person has had a drink. I tell them ‘If you want to drink, take permission and then drink after duty.’ Often there would be ego clashes with the juniors trying to play games, prejudice the owner of the bar against you…”

Another rule she is very particular about till this day when she is in charge at parties is "No talking on the cell phone when on duty. They know that Madam is strict. But when they know that Madam herself won’t use the mobile during those hours they respect you.”

Zeeba Namdarian (top) and in charge of the bar (above)

The working hours for a bartender stretch from 5 or 6 p.m. until 3 a.m. Starting with the chilling of drinks in the early evening and ending with taking stock of the bar after the party is over, the intervening hours are spent in serving the guests. Payment for the bartenders can vary from Rs 1,500 per night to Rs 3,500 depending on the party, the venue, the number of guests, the drinks to be offered, and even the number of middlemen seeking commissions, states Namdarian.

At her level she is the only Zoroastrian female although there are several juniors who are willing to work on an ad hoc basis when they are in need of money. So sometimes they work as extras in the film industry and sometimes at the bar. "They are not focused,” she observes.

Before Namdarian decided to pursue bartending seriously she was working as a restaurant manager with The Bowling Company, Sports Bar at the Phoenix Mills complex. "The Bar would go crazy on certain days of the week and I would step in to get things going smoother. When the seniormost manager Rohinton Rabady noticed that drinks were moving faster when I was around, he asked me if I was interested in attending a course sponsored by the company,” she recalls.

Around this time she was anyway getting tired of "sweet-talking customers. As a manager my role was only to pacify irate customers who had complaints about the food. I wanted to do something creative.” So this opportunity seemed God-sent. Doing a break-shift in those days, she would report to work in the morning, attend the course three afternoons a week, and go back to her duty in the evening. When she chose to make a full-time career in this field, her mother Homai was supportive but father Behram had objections asking her "Do you know what kind of people work in the bars?” Ignoring his protests she continued with her choice, saying, "Today I am very happy having worked my way up from a bartender to a bar manager to a bar consultant and presently I conduct my own classes teaching the youth of today and encouraging them to join this profession which requires you to be a great human being from that part which we forget at all times — the heart.”

Bemused that certain matrimonial offers fell by the wayside when enquiries were made about her career she declares, "I don’t want to marry a man who can’t trust you and think well of you. Maybe some day I will find someone who is proud of me. Until then I am in no hurry. I am happy.”

The innumerable experiences she has gained when dealing with customers and colleagues Namdarian shares with the newcomers in the field at the courses she conducts from her residence at Tardeo. She ensures that each batch, with a minimum of five students, has persons with similar grasping abilities. Thus some sessions may be with waiters and others with catering college graduates. "My motto is to make sure you understand what I speak at class. So until you get it, I keep on repeating it.” Knowledge of all the things Namdarian was never taught at her course, she ensures she imparts to her students. She teaches them the actual making of drinks with alcohol as also the personal style that has to be visible. She also cautions them about the areas where "one has to be careful and where goof-ups are possible.”

With a masters degree in commerce, backed by a degree in law and another in hotel management and catering technology, Namdarian started her career at the Taj Intercontinental Hotel in the bakery department. "It was fun for a while and never did I have to spend on perfumes because until I went home I would be smelling of the yummy Taj chocolates,” she jests. Missing the interaction with customers for whom she was making the products, she preferred to give up the Taj job in favor of joining McDonald’s as a trainee manager at their outlet in Bandra, the first to be opened in India. When "the disaster of politics started there,” she opted to join The Bowling Company…

Her work requiring her to observe "weird timings,” Namdarian says, "I have to be careful about my health. I have stopped drinking for the last four years except when I have to taste a new cocktail before offering it to the customer.” For the dynamic and vivacious Namdarian who believes that "success comes only when you love your work completely,” a dream she nurtures is "starting my own pub bar with an entire Zoroastrian team working with a smile on their faces.”