Best of Weekender: A tête-à-tête with winemaker and entrepreneur Abhay Kewadkar, the best holiday monsoon destinations, and how to launch a startup with a friend

If your idea of a perfect holiday is resting on a sun lounger by the sea, sipping on a glass of fine red wine, and watching the sun set over the bay, you would be one among millions of people who have built their leisure hours around wine. However, there are some wine lovers like Abhay Kewadkar who become winemakers instead, and their journey through vineyards across the world is always fascinating.

Join our entrepreneur of the week, who is one of the first winemakers in the country as he tells us about his life as a vintner, traversing wine countries like Bordeaux, Rioja, Croatia, Napa, and Sonoma valley.

Don’t miss Abhay’s tips as he tells you how to pair wines with your food, how to launch a wine business, and how he plans to add Boutique-style malts, gin, and so much more to his flavourful repertoire of wines.

“Don't walk in front of me; I may not follow. Don't walk behind me; I may not lead. Just walk beside me and be my friend,” said French philosopher Albert Camus. With Friendship Day around the corner, it is time to raise a toast of true friendship.

Meet our startup founders who launched their businesses with their best buddies and find out how it worked out. Is it easy to work together and stay friends? Is there a fine line between professionalism and personal space that one cannot cross?

Check out what the founders of StepSetGo, a fitness app, Daftar, a coworking space, SpringPeople, an IT training provider and Rolls Mania, a food enterprise have to say about running a business with a friend. They have lots of advice to offer and some tips on how to take the path to lasting success.

When it rains, it pours in our part of the world during the monsoon. Why not celebrate the season with a monsoon holiday? There is something very special about visiting cities that are nestled in clouds and drenched in rain.

Join our intrepid traveller as she set off on trips during the rainy season. From the rugged hills of Mandu in Madhya Pradesh to the verdant wetlands of Cherrapunjee to coastlines of Mandvi in Gujarat to the romantic beaches of Goa, she has a world of insights to offer about a monsoon holiday.

And when she talks about the papad Mangodi ki subzi, the spicy mutton and Mirchi vada that she sampled on the way, her tale turns both delectable and charming.

Read all about her experiences in our exclusive on monsoon holidays.

Pet lovers unite! If you want to give your dog a day of fun or take them for some specialised healing treatments, try the hydrotherapy sessions that are now available in Bengaluru and other cities.

Apart from a pampering session, hydrotherapy also helps your pet deal with arthritis, obesity, and spinal cord injury. These treatments could reduce muscle spasms, and improve the joint mobility of your pet.

What’s more, even a short session of hydrotherapy will release happy hormones and help your pet tackle all kinds of ailments.

Learn all about how to bond with your pet with some state-of-the-art hydrotherapy that’s all the rage in the country now.

Love wildlife and nature? Here’s your chance to join a photo-led exploration of India’s finest lensmen as they bring you their best pictures and films of the year.

The sixth edition of the Nature and Wildlife Festival will be held in Bengaluru this weekend, and in an exclusive interaction with Rohit Varma, founder of Nature InFocus, we found out all about the wildlife and nature conservation portal that organises the event every year.

Nature and wildlife enthusiasts from across the country will be participating in the festival and the spotlight will be on the NiF Photographer of the Year and a selection of exclusive films this time.

Don’t miss this showcase of the best of nature captured on film and on still-life camera!

If your heroes of fiction are Iron Man and Superman and if you love good suits, watches and cars and would love to fly a plane someday, meet Gaurav Aggarwal, founder of One Life India, who feels the same way.

His company, One Life India is a division of Lasons, a manufacturer of vitamins in India since 1979. Gaurav launched his business in the Indian market in 2017. 

In his answers to our Proust questionnaire, he talks about his greatest fears, his extravagances, his greatest loves and his heroes.

As for his motto, he believes that every day is a learning day and if you keep this maxim in mind, you can forge ahead to great success and happiness in the years to come.

(Edited by Evelyn Ratnakumar)

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