ERIC Lobo, bar manager at the Indigo in Colaba, Bombay, believes in substance over style. �I�ve seen visiting American bartenders juggle mocktails into three separate highball glasses simultaneously with a flying cocktail shaker. Those are not exactly the drinks I�d like to serve up to my guests.�

For this bartender who pretty much exemplifies the self-made route in bartending, 15 years in the Taj Group of Hotels have meant coming up through a set hierarchy. He�s not very thrilled at what it�s done for his spirit but on the other hand it�s taught him the virtues of staying put during the slog overs. Today when he�s like a caged tiger set free, he�s making the best margaritas in Bombay city, served to a clientele he knows on a first-name basis. That�s when he�s not serving up serious Carparenias or inventing his version of the Alphonso with mango juice, vanilla ice cream and khus syrup.

The barman with the je ne sais quoi worked seven years at the President Hotel�s Trattoria, two at the Library Bar and has seen his cocktail menu at the Thai Pavilion in circulation for the last six years. According to him, the prime requisite for a perspicacious barman is being able to prepare the perfect fresh lime-water. �If you can do that you can prepare any cocktail in the world,� he says with a knowing grin. Lobo himself prepares four litres of the stuff every single day and getting the proportions exactly right is the foundation on which his art and science is built.

He has his magic hour after midnight when the Indigo is closed and he settles down to what he calls his �bar science�. The preparation of secret liqueurs to match Kahlua, Bailey�s Irish Cream and orange liqueurs all made under the Indigo trademark � and if patrons are to be believed, better than the original. These are recipes he says he�ll take with him to the grave, there are no written records. And nobody, knows what goes into them.

He�s got the cardinal rules of bartending worked out over the years. A sense of humour is important and works best in combination with not transgressing a guest�s space. A guest is a guest and becoming over familiar is always counter-productive without exception. �I never aks personal questions and if information is volunteered to me the answer is diplomatic. It�s a skill you pick up with experience and it�s vital to surviving guest relations.�

The bartender as bouncer? Not something he�s done before considering five-star environs but if push comes to shove, he�s just as capable of flexing his muscles as the next Joe. In his manual on guest relations for his assistants he�s listed out the types who frequent the place: the Late Night crowd, the Just Rich crowd, the Expats, the Airline Crew, the Tourists, the Share Market crowd, and even the Underworld, for dire situations. The Share Market crowd for example fluctutates with the palpitations of the stock market as do their bills. The Underworld crowd on the other hand just gives off bad vibrations.

After 15 years in the industry he�s barely begun breathing and is raring to go. At 36, you would find him in Indigo with a smile on his lips � as he aims to put a glass on yours.