As the COVID-19 outbreak puts a break to normal life, it leaves me with a lot of time to ponder. I am using some of it to learn a new skill, catch up on some tv shows or even do some fictional writing.

For a while, I have a habit of listening to a podcast while doing household chores. Here is a list of some that I am currently listening to.

1. The Seen and the Unseen with Amit Verma: This is a great podcast and will nourish you on all things Indian. Amit Verma records his podcasts interviews often with unique public intellectuals. These are often one or two hour-long interviews but are extremely informative and often one does not realize how much time has passed. The podcasts never get boring, which for such long interviews is a credit to Amit Verma’s attention to details, research and ability to be concise.
   
   My favourites are a recent 2 hour-long interview where Verma interviews TM Krishna on Caste, Gender and Karnatik Music.
   
   Another interesting one was Maharashtra Politics Unscrambled.
   
2. 99% Invisible: This podcast is a great one about unnoticed design, architecture and systems that shape our world. It is hosted by Roman Mars.
   
   One of my favourites was Life and Death in Singapore which discusses Singapore’s high rises which are built over graveyards and the cultural and political significance of it. Another one; was how Indian films were extremely popular in USSR right until the 90s, in From Bombay with Love.
   
   The style of the podcast is rich and the storytelling is excellent. It runs like a great short documentary and uses sound effects brilliantly.

A lot of folks are now being forced to work from home and quite suddenly. If you are interested in some cultural practices about distributed work, I would suggest listening to this great podcast on productivity and distributed work between Matt Mullenweg (Automattic) and Stephan Wolfram (from Wolfram Alpha).

Also, this one on Anil Dash, who I think is one of the most empathetic and critical public intellectuals on our culture of the internet.

Tell me what podcasts you are listening to these days?