[Year in Review 2021] Yoga, music, baking, and OTT: most-viewed stories of 2021

As 2021 comes to a close, YSWeekender reflects on the stories and interviews done over the past year.

While the second year of the pandemic continued to pose many challenges to entrepreneurs, it also forced people to think differently and offered opportunities to try out new ways of doing business.

This year, we profiled many startups, actors, authors, chefs, and social media influencers. With health taking precedence in our lives due to the pandemic, our readers loved stories related to health and fitness. From Yoga for weight loss, ensuring we consume the right nutrients, and boosting oxygen levels during the pandemic were some of the most read and shared stories of the year.

Below, we've compiled a list of the top 10 stories that delighted our readers in 2021.

1. 5 yoga asanas for weight loss

Can Yoga help you lose weight? You might think of practising 108 Suryanamaskars (sun salutations) every day for weight loss. The same goes with pranayama practices as well, which is believed to boost metabolism and help with weight loss.

However, a common problem area with weight accumulation is your belly. Belly fat is an indicator of excess cortisol, congestion in the Gut Associated Lymphoid Tissue, and lack of diversity in the gut microbiome.

Excess cortisol leads to higher inflammation and poor hormonal balance. High stress and sympathetic dominance lead to poor digestive function, poor immune function, low output of hormones, and prevents weight loss. This is one of the biggest reasons people do not lose weight.

If that is the case, you might need something that is strong yet calming like Sarvangasana (shoulder stand), Dhanurasana (bow pose), Trikonasana (triangle pose), Naukasana (boat pose), and Kati Chakrasana (twisting).

Sometimes, the more subtle the practice is, the more powerful it can be.

2. Father-son duo’s patented device lets you cook fresh food easily

In 2014, when Jaikrishnan Ganeshan moved to Sweden to pursue a master’s in mechanical engineering at Linkoping University, he craved Indian food. Though there were a few Indian restaurants in town, he found the food lacked authenticity in taste as “it was made to cater to the tastes of European people”.

After six years of working in different domains and countries across Europe, Jaikrishnan returned to India and was keen on innovating a product that simplified the cooking process.

In 2018, Jaikrishnan and his father, RK Ganeshan, co-founded Rakaka Food Technologies (RFT). It’s first product is a simple plug-and-play device, which can cook any dish by placing the right ingredients in the right quantities on a tray.

3. 5 essential nutrients to improve our health

The pandemic has served as a warning bell and made us appreciate the importance of physical health. That said, there has lately been a drastic reduction in the Quality of Life (QoL), a multi-dimensional measure of the general well-being status of people, thanks to restricted movement, working from home, increased screen time, and poor eating habits.

Stress too has played a huge part and has led to an increase in ‘emotional eating’, escalated comfort eating and higher consumption of processed, unhealthy snacks.

Eating the right diet is an important step to boost our QoL as the right nutrients like carbohydrates, fats, vitamins, minerals, and protein contribute extensively to keep us at the right weight, boost the immune system, help resist the onslaught of infections, and also add strength, improve mobility, and help cut fatigue and tiredness.

4. Chef Aditi Handa on building a Rs 6.5 Cr bread business

A good loaf of bread is the most satisfying of all foods, irrespective of who you ask. When 36-year-old Chef Aditi Handa got some flour, water, yeast, and salt to shape one of her first sourdough — a French Pain Aux Cereales, the founder of The Baker’s Dozen, says, “I knew that moment that baking bread was the purpose of my life.” 

Armed with two diplomas — International Bread Baking from International Culinary Institute, New York, and Patisserie from Le Cordon Bleu, Paris — Aditi founded the artisan bakery out of a small kitchen in Mumbai in 2012, with three other bakers.

In the first year, The Baker’s Dozen sold 1,000 units of sourdough. In five years, the number shot up to one lakh. Today, it sells at least three-lakh units of sourdough annually.

5. This NIT-IIM alumnus gave up his cushy job to travel and now sells content to OTT platforms

For Abhishek Vaid, an alumnus of NIT Surat and IIM Bangalore, travelling during childhood was limited to visiting relatives in Delhi and Jammu. “I was born in a typical middle-class family setup in Faridabad, and my family always laid emphasis on the importance of quality education. Travel used to be a luxury for us,” Abhishek tells YSWeekender.

Over time, Abhishek nurtured a secret dream of having a travel show of his own. After a decade of working in the corporate world, Abhishek decided to re-engineer his life and took to creating travel content, with the mission to uncover inspiring tales of diverse people, places, and experiences in the form of travel videos.

Abhishek then founded Untravel Media. Based out of Gurugram, it focuses on creating theme-based story-driven travel series. Today, the media house creates content for its own channels as well as TV networks and OTT platforms, including the likes of Zee5, EpicON, and ShortsTV.

6. World Milk Day: These 4 dairy startups are bringing about another 'white revolution'

When we talk about milk, especially in India, many known brands come to mind. However, nothing beats Amul — the result of the White Revolution or Operation Flood — started by the late Dr Verghese Kurien.

But today, as much as 68 percent of milk and other dairy products do not fulfil the standards laid down by the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI).

To solve this, many dairy-based startups have been coming up in India, which are revolutionising the sector by leveraging technology.

On the occasion of World Milk Day, YSWeekender brought you a few such dairy startups that are constantly reinventing to provide good produce every day.

7. Business of baking: How Pune-based Bakedemy is helping home bakers grow

The COVID-19-led lockdowns saw many turn to their kitchens and put on their chef hat. From banana bread to mug cakes and sourdough bread, baking gained traction among the young and old alike.

Going by this same trend, Pune-based baking instructor and founder of AnyBodyCanBake, Sonia Gupta, along with her husband and Co-founder Amit Gupta, started training aspiring bakers online through classes organised by HomeBakers.

8. 5 ways to boost your oxygen level during the pandemic

Oxygen levels have been discussed a lot during the pandemic. Several people with COVID-19 have challenges when blood oxygen levels drop very low.

When oxygen levels fall low, your body may struggle with symptoms like palpitations, confusion, dizziness, shallow breathing, pressure in the head or headaches.

There are several aspects to look at while you are healthy so that you can ensure higher chances of safety for yourself and for your loved ones. Avoid being iron deficient, include foods that help in circulation, learn to breathe correctly, and it is important to get moving and stay hydrated.

9. How to build self-discipline to exercise regularly

Sticking to your fitness routine is not easy. There are several guidelines that will help you to slowly get more focused and have better discipline such as timings, beginning with what is comfortable for you, building your exercise into something like spending time with your family, and others. Having a fitness tracker is also a simple way to get more disciplined and stay that way.

Whatever form you choose, put it into your scheduler with reminders and ensure that you sustain it every single day for one month.

10. After 500 short stories and 200 books, 87-year-old Ruskin Bond starts all over again every morning

If you were an avid reader in your childhood or your parents wanted to inculcate the habit of reading into you, there’s no way you did not have a Ruskin Bond or two in your bookshelf.

Ruskin Bond may have gained immense fame and popularity in the literary world and won numerous awards, but the Anglo-Indian author remains humble, unassuming, and continues to crack up people with his witty one-liners.

As he turned 87-years-old in May this year, he delighted his readers by launching a children’s book, All Time Favourites, which is a collection of 25 short stories.

On a call with YSWeekender a day before his birthday and the book launch, he spoke about turning a year older, life, writing, treating the planet better, and much more.