New Delhi, Sep 2 - Glamorous Sani Rijal never feels out of place behind the counter tossing drinks for her customers. She is an ace bartender at the happening Jouk pub in Hyderabad.

She 'mixes' her vodka and cranberry juice at the counter with 'flair' - a flourish of her hand that sends the bottle of vodka high up into the air. The bottle cuts a smooth arc above her head to make a safe landing on the back of her palm. And then she tosses a few pegs into the glass.

'I have been bartending for the last one and a half years. I have attended a bartending school, Bar Square, in Chennai, and I love the job. It pays well,' the teenaged Class 12 student of Nepali origin told IANS in the capital.

Sani has qualified as a finalist for the Bacardi Martini Grand Prix 2009 bartending competition. Three women made it to the final rounds of the contest last week after competing with men in the general category.

Welcome to the world of women bartenders - a small but growing tribe in Indian pubs and five-star hotels across metros - who are proving their mettle in juggling, tossing and mixing drinks in a man's world and pushing new gender frontiers.

But restrictions on women in the trade persist as every state in India has 'specific bar hours' and views about women manning bars.

Dipanita Mohanty, 22, who works at the coffee shop in Marriott Hotel in Hyderabad, is a talented 'mixologist'.

'I became a mixologist by chance, but I do not regret it for a moment. I used to work at the coffee shop and started experimenting with beverages when guests demanded something to drink. It had to be something new,' Dipanita told IANS.

A hotel management graduate from Nagpur, Dipanita feels bartending is a lucrative profession for women.

'There is no discrimination, especially in high-end hotels. More women should take up bartending as a profession because they draw attention to themselves and soon become the darlings of the bar. Business booms,' she said.

'Initially my parents were full of misgivings, but now mom tastes the drinks that I mix,' she says.

Yangdup Lama, a professional Delhi-based bartender, who owns 'Cocktails & Dreams', a bartending school at Safdarjung Enclave, feels bartending is not just mixing and serving drinks.