I did not smoke weed man, it was online.

Change of address, click here.

In the short period of four years that I have been using the world-wide web; I have seen some f*cked shit. The once that rank in the top three of disgust; Post for another time, I am sure.

How many of you have ever smoked weed or had a bite of it at Amsterdam or had it in tea with the British? The point being it is out there and pretty much everywhere. Here is why I am talking about this, the other day I was talking to a friend who works at a local radio station. She spoke to me and said that in a popular morning radio segment here in Mumbai, they were doing a show on drugs. Drugs and how easily they are available to the youth the deputy commissioner of police (Mumbai) is on the panel. (I do not really know the chemical configuration of weed qualifying as a drug.)

When I was in college, I saw it all around, the cough-syrup people, weedholics, the alcoholics, smokers and so much more. Sweet Shiva! The parking lot of my college used to smell of it. The Government of India rules enforced in Mumbai dictate that there cannot be cigarette shops within a certain area around a college but who really cares?

AFP PHOTO / Prakash MATHEMA (PRAKASH MATHEMA/AFP/Getty Images)

A Sadhu (Hindu holy man) smoking Ganja (marijuana) in a chillum (traditional clay pipe) as a holy offering from lord Shiva(father of  Ganpati [famous as Elephant god]), Hindu god of creation and destruction at the Pashupatinath temple during, Maha Shivaratri. Hindu’s mark the Maha Shivratri festival by offering special prayers and fasting. Quite Pagan in its roots but it still exists in India.

Here are the questions the friend from the radio station asked:

1. Are drugs like weed/marijuana easily available?
2. Are their people selling it near college’s?
3. Have you ever encountered anyone?
4. Do you know anyone who ‘do it’ regularly?

Before you start throwing empty cigarette packets at me – for giving any details, let me complete. I didn’t tell her where to score the good shit and that is cause I do not know bull-crap about it. But, here is the thing, she asked me if it is easily available and can one get it without having ‘contacts’! The first thing I cleared out was; you do not need real contacts in the world anymore. You do not need real contacts to get weed either, anywhere in the world. Check out the link’s below and you’ll find out why?

I did a very simple thing, searched it, check it out here

Everything you need how to score:

Where to buy weed in Mumbai

Serious racists on weed forums (Really?! Weed forums?) The forum even gives tips on how to bribe Mumbai police; a guy actually said, “$ 40 to the police and all will be cool.”  Click here

Failed Weed wire service:

The clear winner for me was: WeBeHigh

It is a traveller’s guide to getting high. The compilation of the data is amazing to say the least. After confirming the locations in Mumbai I’m sure the ‘so called’ reporters are (hold your breath) credible.

The about us page of the website is pure *drool*

The response on how to score hashish was amazing! The answer is not to specific neither too generic.

Coming back to the point, the whole point of the article is WTF! A very simple point, WTF! Here you have Government tracking down and killing off Wikileaks, daily web-comics, sites infringing copyright etc. on the other hand you have weed freely on the web. I personally am indifferent to weed being legal or illegal. It is what people love to do, get high. You drink, smoke or whatever; anything excessive will harm no matter the scientific claims of whoever. If something as basic as salt in excess can hurt you, weed is no different.

Curiosity leads most of us to search the term and if it’s just plastered out there as to how you can get it! It seems a risky. In college at-least we saw what happens ‘after too much.’ The whole thing is a part funny, part scary and then it seems just plain ingenious.

I just have one thing to say to the Government: it is absolutely out there. Technology has taken the whole culture giant Goliath moon-steps ahead of what the police can do with their current resources. The BBM is cracked for now but most of them will move on, on the slightest hint of what is happening. Why play the cat-mouse game? Just end it. Government mooches off Sin-Tax, get it(weed) in your jurisdiction and see where that takes you.

An Artist’s impression of society where Weed is Legal.

Disclaimer: We at TechStreme do not want to judge what people do, fight are for it. We thought it was an interesting phenomenon that had to be put out there. No malice was meant by the story to any of the concerned people (websites).

New feel, New song but Same old dance by AIRTEL (Open Letter to AIRTEL)

AIRTEL, is one the leading telecom companies in India. Recently, I have started to feel and know that it is sheer numbers. The mass availability of their cheap products has shot them into being top players, but their service, Merci. From the signal reception of my hand-held device to the broadband service on my personal computer, dismal. Read on, to find out about torturous journey of an AIRTEL customer.

Guess what I just did?

Let me just start very simple, I need a broadband service that has a speed of at-least 512 kbps and upwards. AIRTEL provides 1 Mbps for a fair price and I had no meaning to doubt a company that is supposed to do the same. The joy of using AIRTEL broadband started with my first modem replacement; the constant calls to the customer care with endless waits for a maintenance person.
During the writing of the story, the modem thought of a complying and refused to connect.
Here is the video,

A call to the customer service would be full of suggestions but will end like an abrupt awkward date when I tell the concerned person that I use Ubuntu. The standard reply, Sorry sir, but we do not support Ubuntu.A simple question to the head of strategy a rather personal one, ‘Sir/Madam, you just spent a bomb on a theme song and a logo both of them mediocre. Did it ever occur to you that there are operating systems outside windows? I absolutely understand that it is the mass operating system and it makes sense for you to ‘train’ your ‘customer care agents’ accordingly. Nevertheless, I do not think making a manual for troubleshooting Linux variants will cost you anything substantial. The worst part was the tone of the agents who said, you will need to deal with it yourself, according to the service agreement we do not support Linux.It was heart-breaking. Reviewing the service agreement, I am sure one would find ‘in the event of disrupted service as a clause’, Ah! Wishful thinking. The broadband service by AIRTEL offers amazing download speeds with guaranteed disruptions.

Normally, I make calls using Skype mobile to my friends and family abroad. On Friday, 17th December 2010, I was using AIRTEL modem with my WiFi modem to place a VoIP call. Nothing unusual for anyone of us. It was a very important conversation for me and I had been looking forward to it for a very long time. I thought, a 1 Mbps connection could sustain a stable connection for more than 20 minutes. Even those 20 minutes were with cracking noises and constant disturbances. To support the same there is a recording of the whole conversation with the disconnection. In my desperate attempt to save face, the whole exercise of the evening was a waste. 1 Mbps connection, one call, one cell-phone (not even a pc) too much to ask in the face 3G knocking at India’s door and all the talks of cloud computing? With these services, hardly possible.

As of now, the letter is more like a rant. Let me put it in perspective. There are grave concerns with how AIRTEL is going around with their services. Frankly, I cannot wait to transfer my number as soon portability is available in Mumbai. The people I have contacted to rectify my problems:

Customer care (primary),
AIRTEL public relations
The agency that handles the account,
in-house,
Twitter service etc.

Now, I do not blame these people. They are as helpless as me in the face of such shady services. Recurring problems:

Billing related issues, (ref: Aditya Singhvi)
Bad service, (ref: Most customers)
Constant disruptions in all services, (ref: Most customers)
Call drops, (ref: Most customers)
Very poor quality of calls, (ref: Most customers)
Too many blind spots in Mumbai (Prithvi cafe, in the heart of Juhu no EDGE signal. It wasn’t just me but another friend with a Sony Xperia X10).

The worst part is most AIRTEL customers have learnt to live with it. It has become a ritual for so many Android users to restart their cell-phones when there is no EDGE signal. Let me just end by saying, the people handling AIRTEL account have a tedious task cut out for themselves. The PR has tried to suffice my need/problems/concerns, but there is only so much they can do.

P.S. People concerned with the Twitter account, for once check the email account before asking me to send in the details. Over and over again.

TechStreme Comics: Mobile Wars! Part – I

This is an Old comic we had lost in the attic and it was edited by Shriram Sharma. Now, we feel sad that Symbian is dying a slow death, but they are.

MeeGo, the much awaited OS is their last hope to catapult back into limelight!

TechStreme Comics: iLife

By: TechStreme

iLife, idntcare, ithinkitiscrap

 

TO all the Apple fanboys out there!

Metal Detactor App Review

By: Aditya Kshirsagar

Well, I haven’t been around on TechStreme a lot that is because I have been at Technoholik

So, hence forth I will be updating TechStreme with the articles on Android and Apple from  Technoholik! And ofcourse we will soon see Abhishek Roy with his Humor at TechStreme!

for now, App Review of Metal Detector!

A Metal Detector which actually detects metal except aluminum; it is widely believed that it uses the compass for a magnetometer. How, I really have no idea. But I was excited as a little boy on Christmas when I could detect metal with my phone.

For rest of the Review: http://www.technoholik.com/reviews/metal-detector-in-an-android-phone-app-review/