Tired of aimlessly scrolling through Instagram? Juggernaut Books has a month-long literary festival underway — #ReadInstead — which includes conversations, workshops, competitions, masterclasses and more. Join authors Manu Pillai, Twinkle Khanna, Konkona Sen Sharma, Durjoy Datta, Amish Tripathi and others. Details: @juggernaut.in
Big Bad Wolf Entertainment brings the entertainment to you with Live from HQ, an online event. There is music by Kamakshi Khanna and Karsh Kale (seen here), illusion by Karan Singh and stand-up comedy by Vir Das. Till April 1. Details on in.bookmyshow.com
Actor and stand-up comic Kevin Hart has been sharing daily vlogs titled ‘Confessions from the Hart’, where he recounts hilarious stories from his life — including the time he almost killed a kid while he was working as a lifeguard. Follow @kevinhart4real on Instagram
The Book Lovers’ Program for Schools goes online as children remain at home for much longer than expected. From Mondays to Fridays, there will be a 30-minute live storytelling session for ages five to six (10.30 am) and ages seven to eight (11.30 am). Sign up on multistory.in
Closer home, chef Ranveer Brar is sharing 21 recipes, one for each day of the lockdown, on his Instagram feed. Follow @ranveer.brar.
Knowledge and technology collective Tamarind Tree is offering free and open online courses to children aged six to 14. Courses include coding, English, Marathi, maths, science and more. On tamarindtree.org.
Catharsis: This immersive VR art piece by Jakob Kudsk Steensen takes viewers on a walk through the digital simulation of a “a re-imagined old-growth forest”. Perfect for when cabin fever kicks in. The work is now available online till March 31 at catharsis.live
Gal Gadot brought together a lot of famous friends — Zoe Kravitz, Will Ferrell, Sarah Silverman, James Marsden and more — to sing parts of John Lennon’s ‘Imagine’ on her Instagram timeline. Other impromptu social media performances include Pink, Neil Young and Keith Urban and Lizzo playing the flute for a meditative session.
American late night show hosts Stephen Colbert, Jimmy Kimmel, Jimmy Fallon and Trevor Noah are sharing short videos and monologues from their quarantines, bringing some much-needed levity.
New York Times best-selling author and illustrator Mo Willems — has launched a YouTube series called Lunch Doodles, where kids and adults can draw along with him.
Author of ‘Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat’, Samin Nosrat, and podcaster Hrishikesh Hirway are starting Home Cooking, a podcast to “help you figure out what to do with all that quarantine pasta!” Record a voice memo with your questions and mail it to alittlehomecooking@gmail.com
Despite social distancing norms, the Humans of New York page continues to be inspiring with its content. Founder Brandon Stanton invited followers from across the world to share their most uplifting stories via email and then interviewed them via Facetime.
With dates for ‘The Loved Tour’ being pushed, stand-up comic Vir Das has been putting the time to good use. In a vlog titled ‘Vir in the time of Coronavirus’, he will try one new thing a day for 30 days. So far, this has included playing multiplayer online game, PUBG, reading mean comments on social media and joining Tik Tok.
Trips to the zoo are certainly out of the question right now. However, you can still bring the animals home through the screen. Arignar Anna Zoological Park in Chennai has a live yard section on their website, where you can watch bison, monkeys, tigers, bears and crocodiles go about their day. On aazp.in. Chicago’s Brookfield Zoo has a daily live session on Facebook with experts and animals. Or head to theonlinezoo.com, which has a repository of over 20,000 original photos of more than 2,700 species from across the world.
Chris Martin of Coldplay kicked off the #TogetherAtHome concert series on Monday, followed by John Legend (with a little help from wife Chrissy Teigen and daughter Luna) and Charlie Puth.
Antoni Porowski, the food expert on Netflix’s makeover show, Queer Eye, has taken to Intagram to bring us Quar Eye: Cooking Lessons in Quarantine. Dishes include ‘The Keep Calm-lette’, topped with black bean salsa and ‘Let Me Outside Leftovers’.
When you want to take a break from binge-watching shows in the background as you work on your laptop, stroll virtually through a museum. India’s Ministry of Culture website links to 18 museums across the country, including the National Museum in New Delhi, Salar Jung Museum in Hyderabad and NGMA in both Bengaluru and Mumbai. Go international with the Google Arts & Culture project, with more than 2,500 spaces accessible online, including the Museum of Modern Art in New York and Tate Britain in London.
Feel the news cycle always seems to be filled with gloom and doom? Listen to IVM Podcasts’ Smile India, hosted by media consultant Shifa Maitra, to get positive and uplifting news from across the country. Learn about everything from electricity-free refrigerators to eco-villages in five-minute episodes that air every Monday and Thursday. On Instagram, follow meme creator Tank Sinatra’s @tanksgoodnews, for a dose of positivity on your timeline.
Or sign up for the Duolingo app to learn a new language: even High Valyrian from the Game of Thrones universe.
Now that your commute time has been cut down as you work from home, why not use that hour to learn something new? Like Gail Simone, who has written for DC and Marvel. Her #comicsschool on Twitter offered five days of lessons on writing comics. Join in the discussions @GailSimone
Earlier this week, in honour of National Puppy Day, the Twitter handle @dog_rates asked pet owners to share pictures of their canine companions. This resulted in a mega thread featuring thousands of dogs (and even one donkey). Scroll through their pinned tweet for an instant pick-me-‘pup’.
Inspired by Oliver Jeffers, Pratham Books editor Bijal V’s #ThodaReadingCorona invited Indian kid lit authors to read their books online — follow the hashtag. There is also a repository of children’s books available for free on storyweaver.org.in
Celebrated Italian chef Massimo Bottura launched a cooking show on Instagram titled Kitchen Quarantine. He is taking us through the basics like mac and cheese, chocolate sauce and hummus. A follow-up Q&A session will address queries from the live stream. On @massimobottura.
For the adults, there is masterclass.com. Learn creative writing from author Margaret Atwood, independent filmmaking from director Mira Nair (seen here) or music production and beatmaking from Timbaland. At approximately ₹1,300 per month (billed annually), it is a worthwhile investment.
Alternative band The F16s have been sharing Lazy Couch sessions on YouTube, and Chennai-based The Audiophile's School of Sound Engineering is offering indie musicians the chance to produce a single on a pay-as-you-want basis. Details: tase.org.in
Keep up to date with the world of fashion and more, with the Gucci podcast. In one episode, Sir Elton John and Alessandro Michele talk about their artistic connection, while Harlem designer Dapper Dan and Vestoj editor Anja Cronberg discuss underground fashion. On all audio streaming platforms.
Chef Harish Rao from Sea Salt restaurant in Chennai is also sharing easy-to-make dishes @chef_hrrao.