From Ganja Park in Kolkata to lock-ups in 13 countries, he has travelled the world and lived through mad times. Devangshu Datta joins Amit Varma in episode 348 of The Seen and the Unseen to discuss Bengalis who make bombs, Gujaratis who make fetish costumes, his river pirate ancestors and how Only Fans has disrupted Pornhub.

(FOR FULL LINKED SHOW NOTES, GO TO SEENUNSEEN.IN.)

Also check out:
1. Devangshu Datta on Twitter and Business Standard.
2. Previous (miniature) episodes of The Seen and the Unseen with Devangshu Datta: 1, 2, 3.
3. The Life and Times of Nilanjana Roy — Episode 284 of The Seen and the Unseen.
4. Gita Press and the Making of Hindu India — Akshaya Mukul.
5. The Gita Press and Hindu Nationalism — Episode 139 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Akshaya Mukul).
6. Private Truths, Public Lies — Timur Kuran.
7. Godwin's Law.
8. The End of History? — Francis Fukuyama’s essay.
9. The End of History and the Last Man — Francis Fukuyama’s book.
10. Fixing Indian Education — Episode 185 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Karthik Muralidharan).
11. Our Unlucky Children (2008) — Amit Varma.
12. Aakash Singh Rathore, the Ironman Philosopher — Episode 340 of The Seen and the Unseen.
13. The Bridge: The Life and Rise of Barack Obama -- David Remnick.
14. VP Menon: The Unsung Architect of Modern India — Narayani Basu.
15. India’s Greatest Civil Servant — Episode 167 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Narayani Basu, on VP Menon).
16. 'How big is your Madhya Pradesh?' -- Mamata Banerjee asks a party worker to lose weight.
17. Patriots, Poets and Prisoners: Selections from Ramananda Chatterjee's The Modern Review, 1907-1947 -- Edited by Anikendra Sen, Devangshu Datta and Nilanjana S Roy.
18. The State of Indian Sport — Episode 238 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Joy Bhattacharjya & Nandan Kamath).
19. Early Indians -- Tony Joseph.
20. Early Indians — Episode 112 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Tony Joseph).
21. All Quiet on the Western Front -- Erich Maria Remarque.
22. The Dosadi Experiment (featuring Jorj X. McKie) -- Frank Herbert.
23. A Deep Dive Into Ukraine vs Russia -- Episode 335 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ajay Shah).
24. Lost Victories -- Erich von Manstein.
25. Basic Chess Endings -- Reuben Fine.
26. The Tamilian Gentleman Who Took on the World — Amit Varma.
27. The New World Upon Us -- Amit Varma on Alpha Zero.
28. Alpha Zero -- Episode 51 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Devangshu Datta).
29. Google’s AlphaZero Destroys Stockfish In 100-Game Match — Mike Klein (with Peter Heine Nielson's quote on a superior species playing chess).
30. Skynet (Terminator).
31. Neuromancer -- William Gibson.
32. Snow Crash -- Neal Stephenson.
33. Why Children Labour (2007) — Amit Varma.
34. The Poetic Feminism of Paromita Vohra — Episode 339 of The Seen and the Unseen.
35. Satisfaction: The Art of the Female Orgasm -- Kim Cattrall and Mark Levinson.
36. Deep Throat and The Devil in Miss Jones.
37. The Matunga Racket (2007) -- Amit Varma.
38. Colleen Hoover on Amazon, Instagram, Wikipedia and her own website.
39. The Business of Books — Episode 150 of The Seen and the Unseen (w VK Karthika).
40. New in Chess.
41. Amartya Ghosh on Spotify.
42. The Universe of Chuck Gopal — Episode 258 of The Seen and the Unseen.
43. 'Wet Streets Cause Rain' -- Michael Crichton explains Gell-Mann Amnesia.
44. How to generate black money in India (2013) -- TEDx Talk by Devangshu Datta.
45. Poker and Stock Markets — Episode 47 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Mohit Satyanand).
46. Once Upon a Prime -- Sarah Hart.
47. Herman Melville and Edgar Allan Poe on Amazon.
48. Professor Moriarty.
49. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time -- Mark Haddon.
50. A Gentleman in Moscow -- Amor Towles.
51. NK Jemisin and Ursula K Le Guin on Amazon.
52. The Battle for Spain: The Spanish Civil War 1936-1939 -- Antony Beevor.
53. The Spanish Civil War (playlist with all six parts of the docu-series).
54. The Sandman on Netflix.
55. The Sandman -- Neil Gaiman.
56. The Life and Games of Mikhail Tal -- Mikhail Tal.
57. Dune and Blade Runner 2049 -- Denis Villeneuve.
58. India’s War: The Making of Modern South Asia -- Srinath Raghavan.
59. Episodes of The Seen and the Unseen with Srinath Raghavan: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5.

Amit Varma and Ajay Shah have launched a new video podcast. Check out Everything is Everything on YouTube.

Check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing.

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Episode art: ‘Chess Board’ by Simahina.

Ep 348: Devangshu Datta Traded His Corduroy Pants

The Seen and the Unseen - hosted by Amit Varma