Beat The Lockdown Blues: Courses You Can Take Online Now

We've all procrastinated over this one because who's had the time, right? Well, you can now pick a language of your choice (let us tell you, it's varied!) from Afrikaans to Korean, or stick to the mainstream French or even go local by learning Urdu, Tamil or Marathi. The choices are plenty and the course offered by Coursera will tell you how many hours it will take, the skills you will gain, flexible deadlines and more. 

Cost: Depending on the course you pick (either free or paid) 

You know, the best part about this course by Udemy is that you don't need any prior experience. This is your chance to mix 16 classic and contemporary 5-star cocktails at home, something that even skilled professionals would be proud of. You get to shake, stir, layer and build your drinks with skills of the best mixologists. You also learn how to make eye-catching garnishes and make your cocktails 'show-stoppers'. We love the sound of that. 

Cost: INR 1,920

Course Includes: 2.5 hours on-demand video, 16 downloadable resources, certificate of completion

There are quite a few of us with two left feet. If you think you want to learn an Indian dance from, Dance Class Online by Divya Music will teach you all you need to know about Indian classical dances, western dance moves or even tribal dance.

Online classes take place either on Skype or Google Hangouts and the admission fee is INR 1,050 approx. 

If you think that hip hop or even ballroom dancing is your scene, check out Learn To Dance, a website that teaches you to dance from your homes with their HD videos. There's a free online section that we've loved, because you can choose from a variety of options. 

Cost: Dance Class Online - From INR 1,050 approx / Learn To Dance - Free. 

Many of you are skilled cartoonists, and with the market saturated with so many talented folk, you need to understand how to market your cartoons. Well this course not only teaches you cartooning, but also teaches you on the importance of marketing it. 

Cost: Free

If you want to want to go back to traditional roots, then look no further than Shankar Mahadevan Academy where you can learn Hindustani and Carnatic music. The Academy offers vocal courses for adults as well as children, but that's not all. If you're already a trained classical singer, you may also want to check out the teacher's training course that will give you a certification to carry on the tradition of Indian classical music to others who are interested.

Cost: Hindustani Classical or Carnatic Music classes begin at INR 9,000 

Everyone believes they are good photographers, thanks to the latest in mobile tech. But the difference between five likes and 5,000 likes on Instagram is the way the picture is edited. This is why we recommend a photo editing course. There are hundreds of such courses online, but we strongly recommend the one by Dan Scott on Skillshare. It is 87 classes, and a total of 8 hours and 36 minutes of coursework. During this lockdown, what better way to kill time than learn and practice. 

Cost: Sign up to know the price of this course 

Cooking is a real part of life and what better way to learn this fun skill than with a course that focuses on specific details that you're after? Skillshare has a wide variety of topics to pick from - baking, multiple cuisines, culinary, dessert, diet, food & drinks, nutrition, recipes and so much more. Pick a topic, pick a course and get going already! 

 Cost: Certain courses are free, some are paid.

Shilpa Shetty, who has been an advocate for fitness and health, has partnered with the Fit India App, an initiative up by the Government of India and made the premium ‘21-Day Weight Loss Program’ free for all users. Not just this, even the ‘Meditation for Relaxation’ program will be available for free for this time period. It's time to give your health some more focus and stay fit, mentally and emotionally. 

Did you know that the leading Ivy League Colleges in the world, which include Harvard and Princeton, have around 450 online courses available? These courses include English in Journalism from University of Pennsylvania, Journey of the Universe: The Unfolding of Life from Yale University, and a bunch of others. And yes, you did read that right. They are free of cost! 

This Computer Science course at Harvard University is highly respected. In fact, Harvard University is offering a bunch of computer science courses online. This course will take you through the art of programming, algorithms, and languages like C, HTML, Python, SQL, JavaScript Plus CSS. While this is a free course, if you're looking for certification, it costs around INR 6,984.

Price: Free course, INR 6,894 (for certification)

UPenn is hosting Modern & Contemporary American Poetry, and we are signing up! Whether you're someone who's fascinated with modern poetry or would like to understand it — this course will get you started. This course will also help us read poetry with no difficulty and the best part? You get to discuss poetry with your peers. 

Price: It's free.

Here's another course offered by an Ivy League. Developing Breakthrough Innovations With The Three Box Solution by Dartmouth University is available on Edx at free of cost. In this course, you'll learn about using a strategy is innovation, core competencies, and of course Box 3 Innovation which is reverse innovation. Sounds like a plan?

Price: It's free, INR 7,600 (for certification)

Learning math, science or computer science a breeze with the Brilliant website and app. It is basically an educational platform that is designed to give your brain a workout and a break from mindless hours spent doing nothing! The web/app has focused lessons and relatable situations to explore complex science, technology, and math topics through games or quizzes. Brilliant has over 60 curated courses designed for both adults and students with options to even download these courses and work on them when offline. You can download the app and use the 7-day free trial after which you will have to upgrade to the annual subscription at INR 4,800 to unlock all courses.