'It is about character. As a woman, a bartender brings a lot of life to a bar. So, 50 percent of the job is done when a woman is behind the counter. All she needs is to get the other 50 percent right - the skill of mixing drinks and blending a bit of flaring or acrobatics with it,' he explains.

Lama has two girls in his class of 15 students this academic season, which has just begun.

Bartending can be of two types - flair and mixology, says the instructor.

'Flair is the practice of entertaining guests (while mixing drinks) with bar tools like cocktail shakers and liquor bottles like a juggler. Flair is common in high-decibel cocktail bars. Mixology, on the other hand, is the fine art of mixing drinks with creativity,' he says.

'Girls are good at both because they are thoughtful by nature. But female bartenders must have these essential traits - a mature mind, a sense of restraint - when to stop and how close to get to a client, good communication skill, smart body language and an idea about the product, which is sensitive,' Lama says.

Twenty-six-year-old Grace Thapa, a senior bartender at the Ecstasy Lounge and Restaurant in Bhubaneswar, feels the job is glamorous. 'I meet a lot of good people and more girls should take up the challenge,' Grace says.

She is self-taught. 'I learnt fire juggling of bottles from my trainer at the hotel,' says Grace, who performs a five-minute fire show for her clients every day. 'Bartending is not a profession to be frowned upon. Women are safe,' she says.

Mumbai-based Shatbhi Basu, celebrity bartender and trainer, feels 'more women should be encouraged to work behind the bar counters because they are innovative by nature'.

Arvind Krishnan, all-India marketing controller of Bacardi, says: 'The trends are changing and more women are coming to work in bars from towns like Hyderabad and Bhubaneswar. They find the environment safer because of the changing client profile. Women and youngsters make up a large percentage of bar-hoppers, making it easy for girls to operate behind the counter.'

The capital in 2007 overturned a 1914 British law that prohibited women from tending bars.

(Madhusree Chatterjee can be contacted at madhu.c@ians.in)