Swat Away COVID-19 Quarantine Blues With These Free Books & Music

Here’s a list of all the books, comics and free concerts on offer to encourage you to stay at home. 

(Photo: Arnica Kala/The Quint)

The world is topsy-turvy, you’re on your fifth day of quarantine and itching to go out, everything is closed, and you’re terrified of contracting an unknown virus — the COVID-19 pandemic has made boredom an everyday reality. But social isolation doesn’t have to be tough. To encourage people to stay in – and to lift morale – artists are live streaming concerts like Chris Martin’s #TogetherAtHome gig and publishers like Amar Chitra Katha are offering their entire catalogue for free.

Here’s a list of all the books, comics and free concerts on offer. Sit back, relax and, as the government is emphasising repeatedly – stay at home.

Books & Comics to Curl Up With

• Juggernaut, a digital book publishing house, has started a campaign called #ReadInstead and is offering the Juggernaut app, with a catalogue of best-sellers and mobile reads, for free. They also have a COVID-19 reading list up on their website.
• In the mood for some good old nostalgia? Ramayana, and Suppandi? Amar Chitra Katha is offering free access to their classics through an app, including 100 Tinkle Magazines and 350 Amar Chitra Katha books.

• Have you always wanted to write that book? But have been unable to because you’ve neither had the time, nor access to journals? JSTOR, a digital library founded in 1995, has made 6,000 books and 150 journals free to access.
• Sixty thousand free e-books, and a chance to catch up on the classics of literature. Project Gutenberg, a library of over 60,000 free eBooks, is a resource you must check out – after you wash your hands for the day.
• Scribd, an American e-book and audiobook subscription service, is doing a free one-month trial for those who are suffering from COVID-19 blues.
• Knowledge is power, and to better understand the unknown COVID-19 virus, Cambridge is offering free access to online high school textbooks and coronavirus research.
• Maybe you prefer to listen to books than to read them. Worry not. Librivox has free public domain audiobooks, read by volunteers across the world.
• Haymarket Books is offering ten free e-books over the next two weeks, for those who“ will be turning to books in search of much-needed relief from constant worry.”

How to Keep Up With School & College

• It’s never easy to switch to an online classroom, especially when there’s a disruption in the middle of the semester. Keeping that in mind, BYJU’s is offering its learning programmes for free until the end of April.
• Struggling with Photoshop access now that you’re out of college? Adobe is giving students free access to its Creative Cloud products till 31 May.
• If you’re struggling to teach your pre-schooler, and wondering how their teachers get it done, check out The Barbara Bush Foundation for Family Literacy for a free education toolkit for parents teaching children at home.

Free Broadband & Internet

• State-run BSNL has announced free broadband service for its landline and new customers for a month for all your “work from home” needs.

Let The Music Overwhelm You

• The Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra is helping you stay at home by offering live streaming of around 40 concerts of classical music.
• In mood for some opera? The New York Metropolitan Opera “hopes to brighten up the lives of our audience members even while our stage is dark” and is offering a different encore presentation on streaming for every day that the Met is closed.
• The London Symphony Orchestra is hosting full-length concerts twice a week, as well as artist interviews on its website.