Splitting up fights and turning away gatecrashers – the life of a bouncer is never easy.
But for India’s door staff, the Covid-19 pandemic cut their steady income as jobs in security and private protection evaporated with lockdowns, cancelled events and businesses closing.
Airports grounded flights and foreign tourists requiring security – armed and unarmed – stopped coming. Work at concerts, events and big weddings also dried up.
Now though, as India's borders reopen to foreign tourists from more than 90 countries, nightclubs and venues start to operate with fewer restrictions and footfall gradually increases, bouncers say they are hopeful of a return to normality.
India's traditional wedding season also appears to be roaring back, with 2.5 million ceremonies booked over the next month alone. Many of these large gatherings will require security.
Muscular bouncer Sharad Jain, 38, of Chandni Chowk in Delhi, is one of tens of thousands of security staff grateful to again be facing off against overeager revellers.
Before the pandemic, he says he provided security for American rapper Pitbull as well as many Indian celebrities. But when the lockdown hit, he lost his job.
“I was working at a building as the chief security officer for seven years,” he told The National. “I earned 40,000 rupees ($539) a month. But when the pandemic hit, I lost my stable job. My life suddenly turned upside down.
“We managed to survive on savings for a few months, feeding ourselves but there was no money to pay the house rent. I live with my parents, wife and two-year-old daughter.
“I had to take a loan from people. I was in debt of 60,000 rupees. I was so desperate that when the Delhi government opened liquor shops, I worked as a bouncer there as there were huge crowds to manage.”
When the pandemic hit India, some bouncers turned to work in the shops that remained open or started delivering takeaway food on small motorbikes. Others left the cities and returned to their villages to plough fields. Some had to borrow money from friends.
“For bouncers, it was a tough time,” said Anubhav Khiwani, owner of Denetim Services in Delhi, which provides security for businesses and armed and unarmed protection for wealthy citizens and foreign visitors.
“A lot of these bouncers and security guards had migrated to the cities. They had to go back to the villages," he told The National.
"From all cities, the labourers, the construction workers, the security guards, all these working-class people returned home to their villages, their farmland, so they could survive. How will they live if they are getting no money and no food in cities? The trains were shut, the buses were shut, everything was closed.”
Before the pandemic, Denetim’s business was up 25 per cent year-on-year, with a growing client list. Pictures of famous faces, including The Da Vinci Code author Dan Brown and Diary Of A Wimpy Kid creator Jeff Kinney, adorn the company’s website, alongside Indian celebrities including the late Rishi Kapoor.
But when the country was locked down, Denetim’s turnover halved, Mr Khiwani told The National.
“Welcome to life. It just goes on,” said the 37-year-old cheerfully.
Some of his staff could not afford to be so positive.
“I had no work for months. It was a very difficult time. All my savings had dried up,” said Mohit Chaprana, 34, of New Delhi.
Five years ago, Mr Chaprana was helping his father to run his mobile shop when he switched to working as a bouncer after getting into bodybuilding.
“I was a gym freak and this job pays decent money,” said Mr Chaprana, who supports his parents as well as his wife and two sons, 11 and nine.
“I was working with a paper mill owner as a bouncer and driver before the pandemic for over a year. My salary was 22,000 rupees plus overtime. It was a decent sum for me.
“When the pandemic hit, there was a sudden lockdown and my boss asked me to stop coming to work. It was so sudden I did not know what to do. I lost my job.
“I have children to look after, my old parents to take care of but I had no money to even feed them. It was the worst phase of my life. I was shattered.”
Without money to pay for schooling, Mr Chaprana persuaded his children’s school to continue classes without fees.
“They agreed for a few months but then I had to take them out of the school,” he said.
“I was desperate. I drove motorbikes to deliver food for eight to 10 hours a day, but that wasn’t enough. When the lockdown was relaxed later – in October last year – I joined a showroom as a security officer but there was another lockdown this year and I was again out of work.”
The Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy reported that about 21 million people lost their jobs between April and August 2020. It said more than 1.5 million people became jobless in August 2021 alone.
India lost 15.45 trillion rupees of retail trade during its peak Covid-19 period during April and May 2021, industry body Confederation of All India Traders said.
But Mr Jain, who owed 60,000 rupees, was able to clear his loan.
“Thankfully I have repaid [the loan] since starting work again,” he said. “I have started working on events, mainly weddings, and will be joining my past job in December. I get 2,500 rupees per day for eight hours at events.
“I am hopeful that now with India opening up borders for foreigners, I will get more work and earn more.”
But the threat of another wave of coronavirus – and another lockdown – remains.
“I am happy that the world is opening up again but there is always this fear of instability," said Mr Chaprana, who started a new job in September as a bouncer and driver for a factory owner in Delhi.
“The future is unpredictable and there are still many cases of Covid in the city. Now, there are talks of a lockdown to control pollution in the city. I am worried about losing my job again.”
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
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ESSENTIALS
The flights
Emirates flies from Dubai to Phnom Penh via Yangon from Dh2,700 return including taxes. Cambodia Bayon Airlines and Cambodia Angkor Air offer return flights from Phnom Penh to Siem Reap from Dh250 return including taxes. The flight takes about 45 minutes.
The hotels
Rooms at the Raffles Le Royal in Phnom Penh cost from $225 (Dh826) per night including taxes. Rooms at the Grand Hotel d'Angkor cost from $261 (Dh960) per night including taxes.
The tours
A cyclo architecture tour of Phnom Penh costs from $20 (Dh75) per person for about three hours, with Khmer Architecture Tours. Tailor-made tours of all of Cambodia, or sites like Angkor alone, can be arranged by About Asia Travel. Emirates Holidays also offers packages.
'Outclassed in Kuwait'
Taleb Alrefai,
HBKU Press
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Company name: baraka
Started: July 2020
Founders: Feras Jalbout and Kunal Taneja
Based: Dubai and Bahrain
Sector: FinTech
Initial investment: $150,000
Current staff: 12
Stage: Pre-seed capital raising of $1 million
Investors: Class 5 Global, FJ Labs, IMO Ventures, The Community Fund, VentureSouq, Fox Ventures, Dr Abdulla Elyas (private investment)
More from Rashmee Roshan Lall
The schedule
December 5 - 23: Shooting competition, Al Dhafra Shooting Club
December 9 - 24: Handicrafts competition, from 4pm until 10pm, Heritage Souq
December 11 - 20: Dates competition, from 4pm
December 12 - 20: Sour milk competition
December 13: Falcon beauty competition
December 14 and 20: Saluki races
December 15: Arabian horse races, from 4pm
December 16 - 19: Falconry competition
December 18: Camel milk competition, from 7.30 - 9.30 am
December 20 and 21: Sheep beauty competition, from 10am
December 22: The best herd of 30 camels
The%20National%20selections
%3Cp%3E6pm%3A%20Barakka%3Cbr%3E6.35pm%3A%20Dhahabi%3Cbr%3E7.10pm%3A%20Mouheeb%3Cbr%3E7.45pm%3A%20With%20The%20Moonlight%3Cbr%3E8.20pm%3A%20Remorse%3Cbr%3E8.55pm%3A%20Ottoman%20Fleet%3Cbr%3E9.30pm%3A%20Tranquil%20Night%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
The specs
Engine: 3.0-litre six-cylinder MHEV
Power: 360bhp
Torque: 500Nm
Transmission: eight-speed automatic
Price: from Dh282,870
On sale: now
Teaching in coronavirus times
TUESDAY'S ORDER OF PLAY
Centre Court
Starting at 2pm:
Elina Svitolina (UKR) [3] v Jennifer Brady (USA)
Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (RUS) v Belinda Bencic (SUI [4]
Not before 7pm:
Sofia Kenin (USA) [5] v Elena Rybakina (KAZ)
Maria Sakkari (GRE) v Aryna Sabalenka (BLR) [7]
Court One
Starting at midday:
Karolina Muchova (CZE) v Katerina Siniakova (CZE)
Kristina Mladenovic (FRA) v Aliaksandra Sasnovich (BLR)
Veronika Kudermetova (RUS) v Dayana Yastermska (UKR)
Petra Martic (CRO) [8] v Su-Wei Hsieh (TPE)
Sorana Cirstea (ROU) v Anett Kontaveit (EST)
The specs: 2018 Renault Koleos
Price, base: From Dh77,900
Engine: 2.5L, in-line four-cylinder
Transmission: Continuously variable transmission
Power: 170hp @ 6,000rpm
Torque: 233Nm @ 4,000rpm
Fuel economy, combined: 8.3L / 100km
Groom and Two Brides
Director: Elie Semaan
Starring: Abdullah Boushehri, Laila Abdallah, Lulwa Almulla
Rating: 3/5
The specs: 2019 Mercedes-Benz C200 Coupe
Price, base: Dh201,153
Engine: 2.0-litre turbocharged four-cylinder
Transmission: Nine-speed automatic
Power: 204hp @ 5,800rpm
Torque: 300Nm @ 1,600rpm
Fuel economy, combined: 6.7L / 100km
All the Money in the World
Director: Ridley Scott
Starring: Charlie Plummer, Mark Wahlberg, Michelle Williams, Christopher Plummer
Four stars
