So you wanna listen to something...

This week, we have something a little different for you… in case you want to change up that Netflix and chill routine. Our newest splainer team member, Disha Verma, offers a list of her fave podcasts below:

• Off Menu: Comedians Ed Gamble and James Acaster invite celebrity guests to design their own five-course “dream menu”—which quickly escalates into insane food stories and half-hour rants on why Biryani is the greatest food. (Kumail Nanjiani, we hear you)
• Incarnations: India in 50 Lives: Sunil Khilnani takes us through the history of India through the lives of fifty influential figures, old and young, in fifty high-impact episodes.
• No Such Thing As A Fish: From the British quiz-show ‘Quite Interesting’. QI researchers sit down to dissect four wacky but true facts they stumbled upon that week—and the result has us ROFLing!
• Philosophize This!: If you're interested in philosophy but don’t have the time to read fat, drab books, this show is for you. Stephen West breaks down complicated philosophy theories and schools, one philosopher at a time, to give you clean, crisp crash courses.
• My Dad Wrote A Porno: Jamie Morton is an ordinary British man… except his dad wrote a porno and he wants to read it out to us. This show will make you laugh and cringe like no other on this list!
• You’re Dead To Me: Hated history in school? It’s probably because it wasn’t taught this way. Sit back and let comedians explain to you everything from the Haitian Revolution to the history of chocolate in this funny but highly informative BBC podcast.
• My Favorite Murder: Everyone loves a good true crime podcast, but imagine one that also makes you laugh. “Stay Sexy and Don't Get Murdered”!
• Citations Needed: A topical talk-show that explores policies, events and ‘hot-takes’ with facts and nuance. All without being boring. We loved their (refreshingly unbiased) coverage of the US Election.
• Bad & Bollywood: A hilarious desi podcast where two friends dissect long-forgotten bollywood movies that are so bad they’re almost… good? The likes of Masand and Chopra are outdated—this is where millennials get their movie reviews from.
• BBC Earth: This slow-paced, soothing, high-production audio version of NatGeo is the perfect podcast to unwind on a weekend to.
• The Invisible College: Writers’ block? Let legendary playwrights and novelists help you break it. Each episode features speeches and creative writing tips from the likes of Ted Hughes, WB Yeats and Allen Ginsberg. Surreal!
• Dan Carlin’s Hardcore History: Have time to spare and wanna learn all of history? Trust Dan Carlin, internet’s favourite historian, to explain every war and uprising in world history with painstaking patience and detail. Note: some episodes run upto 7 hours long!

• The Overthink Tank: Beloved Indian comedians overthink silly stuff—so you don’t have to. Yes, we love structured debates on why he didn’t text back. 

A list of good reads

• Our fave read on this list: The Atlantic on friends who “borrow” but never return—and why people pull this shit all the time.
• Fariha Róisín in The Guardian writes about the burden of family secrets and who gets to tell the story about a terrible act of violence.
• The Smithsonian rounds up the nine weirdest animal penises in the world. Don’t worry. There are no photos of these wonders, but plenty of amusing prose.
• We greatly enjoyed Akriti Rana’s apt comparison of iPhone design to a soan papdi dabba.
• Related read: If you’ve ever struggled to figure out how to use your iPhone’s Bedtime Mode, Mashable has the perfect guide.
• Economist explains why self-help books are so popular in China—and the reasons hold just as true of India.
• Huffington Post has a handy list of 14 great children’s books that can help kids navigate an increasingly polarised and hate-filled world.
• Yeast infection or UTI? Insider offers a useful guide to self-diagnosis.
• Is it time for Twitter to die? Gizmodo certainly thinks so, and explains why Trump’s exit will seal its fate.