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The outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic has affected the whole world. China, Italy, USA and the United Kingdom have reported large numbers of Coronavirus patients. Now there is an increase in the virus-infected people in India too. The Indian government has taken a major step of the nationwide lockdown to prevent the increase of the coronavirus.

The 21day lockdown is implemented in the nation to prevent the socialization in society. Everyone is staying at their houses and coping up with their boredom with the help of digital platforms. People are finding reading as the best escape from boredom. The government of India and top Indian publishers have launched free PDF files of the bestselling novels and e-learning portals. Magazines like Vogue have also announced free monthly subscriptions for this quarantine.

During the time of world pandemic, people are curious to know the global situation through the media. People are shifting towards digital reading more and more as it’s the easiest and quick source right now to receive all the global information.

The media outlets have also offered e-papers as the PDF version of newspapers. The Hindu offers 20 free articles a month on its website. It also provides the ebook of the report on COVID-19 for readers. Another leading newspaper, The Indian Express also offers free e-paper to its readers. Another newspaper The Financial Times also offers 30 days of free access to its Coronavirus business update newsletter.

The Chennai based publication, The New Indian Express gives free access to its latest edition of E-papers. The list continues with names of media outlets like The Times of India, Mumbai Mirror and Hindustan Times.

The government of India has taken a big step of 21-day lockdown to prevent the nation from pandemic Covid-19by ordering Social Distancing. Since the outbreak of the coronavirus happened globally, the government as a whole suggested the natives stay in their respective homes as the virus spread through human contact.

People are spending their quarantine and  Social Distancing, in their house with books, games, and Netflix. In such time, books play a significant role as the source of entertainment. You cannot go outside, but your thoughts can take you around the whole world. A good book with a cup of coffee on your comfy bed is the best combination for this quarantine. Now we have all this time to dedicate ourselves to enjoy the magic of literature.

The Indian government has also launched free e-books portals to encourage the reading habit among the citizens and to maintain the Social Distancing programme. Here we have compiled a list of books suggested by authors to read in this quarantine – 

 Author JLF co-founder Namita Gokhle suggests Helen Dunmore’s historical novel “The Siege.” She thinks that the readers can visit the Siege of Leningrad by German forces during World War II through the book. She shared her experience of reading this novel that it has reminded her of the intensity with which it was written. 

 Kannada novelist Vivek Shanbhag recommended his quarantine read, “Bhaskara Patellar and other stories.” He talked about the book that these Malayalam stories takes us into a world that is inhabited by unusual people. He also described how people in Kerala love the culture, art and literature is unique and admirable.

 Author and activist Meena Kandasamy suggests reading any book on “Babasaheb Ambedkar.”. She suggested this topic to read in the quarantine by keeping the current situation in the mind. She says, “Because with what we’re facing, the political situation outside, people like Dr Ambedkar have some answers about majoritarianism and what’s happening to the Constitution and what’s happening to the country. Even as we see the social fabric of the country being threatened, it’s essential to be diverse, it makes this country what it is.”

 JCB prize winner author Madhuri Vijay talks about her quarantine read, “At Dusk” written by Korean writer Hwang Sok-Yong. She says about the book that It’s a beautiful, melancholy novel about how nations transform as a result of modernisation and all that is lost in the process. This could be the perfect read focusing on the current global pandemic situation where the world is changing, and so much has lost, which we once took for granted.

The thriller novelist Novoneel Chakraborty suggests his Goodreads “The Japanese Lover” by Isabel Allende. The book has a historical perspective on it. The current lockdown situation where people are just stuck in their places and have a lot to do but nothing to do at the same time. The urge to escaping this world right now is on its peak. The book will help you to live in a different time while exciting at this time only.

 Author Parvati Sharma believes in fighting the stress with laughter. She suggests reading the work of the author “PG Wodehouse.” She said, “He could make a brick laugh; and he’s such a smooth writer, he’ll pull you in no matter how distracted you are by coming apocalypses. Plus, he was remarkably prolific – almost a hundred novels and story collections – so he’ll keep you company a long while.” It’s essential to divert your mind from the world- ending stress and to have a good-real laugh.

 Author Deepa Agarwal chooses “La Belle Sauvage” as her quarantine read. Most readers decide to enjoy their reading time by choosing fantasy fiction. The author says about the book, “There is a thrilling adventure, suspense, political intrigue, and espionage, which keeps you turning pages. You escape to a richly imagined fantasy world and preoccupied with its problems, and you forget your own.” She also added, “I believe this beautifully written book will certainly help to keep your COVID-19 anxieties at bay!”

 Novelist Anita Nair suggests reading about culinary literature in these lockdown days to keep yourself entertained. She recommends, “Larousse Gastronomique” by Prosper Montagné. She talks about the book that It’s like reading an entire library dedicated to just food – customs, ingredients, cookware, anecdotes, travel, stoves, biographies, geography, science, cutlery – written in elegant prose.

Social distancing is one of the measures proposed by the governments of nations around the world for the prevention of coronavirus. On many occasions, it can be complicated to carry out, since we are social beings at all times. The Control and Prevention Centers of each of the national governments apply various measures to prevent contagion, among these measures is social distancing.

Social distancing can be hard for people, in addition to turning everything that has to do with altering people's social and economic fibres upside down. With the current crisis and the loneliest young generation in history, it affects people's health, especially in the psychological sphere.

Top NGO in India

In this article we are going to point out everything that has to do with alleviating the effects of social distancing, they are the following:

- Maintain the routine: you should not interrupt your usual routine of sleep and wakefulness, daily work and the usual schedule.

- Take the time to distance yourself to focus on the current personality, re-evaluating your work, diet patrons or physical activities.

- Cooking: you can use the time to cook all kinds of dishes with fruits, vegetables. You can consume between 2-3 meals per day. This to continue as healthy as possible.

- Take a walk or exercise at home: you can take advantage of your house or your garden to take a walk around or take out the machines you have stored to exercise at home. You can even find applications for it.

- Do not let anxiety lead you to consume too much food or drink too much: sleep at least 8 hours, since if you sleep less you will be tired throughout the day and if you sleep more, healthy food and exercise will not be too effective.

- It can cause depression and anxiety: this occurs due to isolation, interruption of routines or fear.

- Think about your future and use technology for work: working from home is a good option to be efficient and more productive. You can attend meetings by videoconference for example.

There doesn’t seem to be a lot of advantages involved when it comes to this Coronavirus. However, there is one big advantage that needs to be talked about. Countries from all over the world are putting themselves in lockdown and that’s actually really good for the environment. Let me tell you why exactly lockdowns all over the world are helping with creating a pollution-free world!

When in lockdown, people need to start working from home as much as possible. This way, they don’t need to take the car or other means of transport to get to their workplace. Thus, there is a lot less pollution from all kinds of exhaust fumes. People also aren’t allowed to visit friends or family in times of lockdown in order to lower the risk of new infections. Again, if people are required to stay home, they can’t contribute to pollution based on exhaust fumes from cars. This way, lockdowns really make it possible for the earth to really breathe again.

Also, when people have to stay home, there will be fewer littering on the streets and in the parks. Certain products, like plastic, take a long time to break down in the environment and are a very big cause of pollution. Because of the lockdowns, there are fewer chances of those products ending up in the environment. Adding to this, people seem to recycle more in times of lockdowns so that’s also very good in the fight against pollution of the environment.

Lastly, there already have been some scientific tests about the amount of greenhouse gas emissions before and after the outbreak of the Coronavirus. As a result, we know know that the emission of greenhouse gasses has decreased greatly. That’s caused by many reasons related to the lockdowns. Factories are closing down and the overall economy doesn’t work the way it normally used to. Admittedly, the economy is really suffering from the outbreak of this virus, but the environment is truly thriving!

All schools and universities have closed now aiming to prevent the spreading of Coronavirus. The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has announced that the board exams are also postponed now because of the pandemic of Covid-19. Hence, the education of the students is now suffering as they are locked down in their houses for the sake of their health.

The young brains need to have their dose of education on a daily basis. In these hard times, we all are looking to the options to keep ourselves updated with the education and latest developments. Here we have compiled a list of top 5 education apps for online learning which will help to keep yourself connected with studies in this quarantine.

Byju’s

The application provides the A quality material of study. More than 16 million students have already registered themselves on this application. There are videos, tests, guides and test prep courses for competitive exams like CAT, GRE, GMAT, NEET, IAS, JEE etc. Byju’s has online classes for the students form class 4th to 12th.

Coursera

Coursera provides you with online courses in programming, languages, music and many more from the top universities. There are more than 2,000 courses and specializations present on the application. These courses and specializations are developed by more than 140 best colleges and universities of the world.

Meritnation

This online learning application provides you with the sample papers and NCERT solutions for classes 6th to 12th. In this application, you will find the previous year’s board papers and study material for national olympiads as well. Meritnation also provides you with revision notes which help you to improve your studies. From helping to clearing all doubts and providing the sharp study material, the application fulfils all the academic needs of CBSE and ICSE school students.

Toppr

Toppr provides the study material for CBSE and ICSE students from class 5th to 12th. The application also provides the live classes for JEE and NEET. The students who are preparing for these competitive exams can use this application to enhance their learning. They can take those online live classes and stay connected with their preparations.

myCBSEguide

This application helps the CBSE students by providing the CBSE sample papers, NCERT solutions, class 10th year papers, notes, online tests and videos about the study topics. The app has more than 10 million page views per month. There is the study material for the students for class 3rd to 12th. There are online quizzes with friends to make the study time more fun and interesting at the same time.