Ajay Sudan

Selfie is a self-portrait photograph,typically taken with a digital cameraor camera phone held in the hand orsupported by a selfie stick.

Selfies are often shared on social networking services suchas Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. They are usually flatter-ing and made to appear casual. Most selfies are taken with acamera held at arm’s length or pointed at a mirror, ratherthan by using a self-timer. A selfie stick may be used to widenthe angle of view, such as for group selfies.

It is a monopod used to take selfie photographs by posi-tioning a smartphone or camera beyond the normal range ofthe arm. Selfie is one of the current trends among the newgeneration. But, everything has some disadvantages.

Selfie lead to mental sickness, taking selfies during workor during a sad occasion is the indicator of mental sickness.Some people take too many selfies. This is another indicatorof the same. Make sure, selfies are not harming you and any-one else. Otherwise, you should stop taking selfies. Transferof lice is one of the most alarming disadvantages of takingselfies. When two or more people pose for taking selfie, licefrom one’s hair is transferred to another’s hair. This is hap-pening at an alarming rate in the world. So, make sure thatthe people who are with you in the selfie don’t have lice inhis/her hair. The size of one’s face changes a little while tak-ing selfies. This is due to the fact that the selfies are takenfrom a near distance. So, the face may appear much largerthan the actual size in the selfie. It gives partial capturing, ifyou want to take a whole-body photograph, you can’t do it byselfie. Selfies are only applicable for capturing the upper por-tion of your body. If you want to take a whole-body selfie, youmight need a stand! Large groups are difficult to capture ina selfie. The rest of the people will appear much smaller thanthe selfie owner. Some of them may go outside the frame.

Some selfies are a bit too revealing, Ladies please havesome respect for yourself and your bodies! Posting half naked

pics are not the way to rack up your likes. The only thingyou’re racking up is negative attention! Just remember thereis a fine line between posting a selfie in your bathing suit ver-sus your bloomers. There are a million ways to be beautiful,but there is one way that doesn’t require any effort at all. Beyourself! Don’t stoop so low for the approval of others, letpeople like you for you.

If you’ve taken up to three selfies today, consider yourselfnuts. At least, in the eyes of the American Psychiatric Asso-ciation and countless others, who are igniting a global move-ment to recognize that an addiction to selfies can be indica-tive of a mental disorder?

We all know that certain someone who is intent on cap-turing every waking moment with a duck-faced selfie. Theyeven have that one specific expression set aside, ready to plas-ter it on in a whim the very second an iPhone is pulled out.

It never seems concerning until you look through a com-piled, endless list of someone’s Instagram selfies – and eventhen, it could be more funny than worrisome. Now I’m notone to typically draw concern towards trivial matters, espe-cially something that sounds as ridiculous as an addiction toself-portraits.

The story of Danny Bowman, a 19-year-old British teenwill surely stumble you, who exemplifies the worst case sce-nario of a selfie addiction – living proof that a new vice maycurrently be emerging. How far did he take his obsession?Snapping over 200 photos a day, he didn’t leave his housefor six months, during which time he lost 30 pounds anddropped out of school.

Growing increasingly frustrated with his inability to cap-ture the perfect selfie, he eventually tried to commit suicide.Fortunately, much like his attempts for a picture perfectimage, he failed in doing so.

Recently, the American Psychiatric Association actuallyconfirmed that taking selfies is a mental disorder, going as faras to term the condition “selfitis”. The APA has defined it as:“the obsessive compulsive desire to take photos of one’s selfand post them on social media as a way to make up for thelack of self-esteem and to fill a gap in intimacy”, and has cat-egorized it into three levels: borderline, acute, and chronic.

How extreme is your selfitis? If you find yourself takingup to three selfies a day but not posting them on social media,consider yourself borderline. If you’re posting at least threeimages of yourself a day, that’s acute. Lastly, if you’re expe-riencing an uncontrollable urge to take and post up to sixphotos a day, congratulations – you have chronic selfitis.

Danny fit quite comfortably into the third category, per-haps even deserving his own echelon of selfie insanity. Whatcan we learn from Danny? Well for starters, we live in a soci-ety that is provoked into an infinite pursuit of superficial per-fection that can never be attained. In a world where peopleare addicted to plastic surgeries and countless forms of bodyenhancement (from Goodlife to Sephora), foregoing thingslike knowledge and experience in their sole focus on livinglife ostensibly. We’re now at the verge of insanity, if not wellover it.

The solution to minimize the exposure to this addictionand breaking down the dependence on it-What may be calledfor is a reality check to do away with digital narcissism – to

live with social media rather than living through social media.Try to put away your phone for intervals of time, first for

10 minutes, then for 30 minutes and so forth. Is that reallyso difficult? But when you pause to think about it, when wasthe last time you had gone an hour or two (or maybe even 10minutes) without touching your phone?

There is a challenge to you to leave your phone behind thenext time you embark on a picture- perfect moment or to doaway with posting pictures of every meal on Instagram.

The selfie craze, “What a tragic waste of engagement.Enjoy the moment. Do something more worthwhile with yourtime, anything. Stare out the window and think about life”

So if you find yourself snapping away and capturing lifethrough the lens of your camera, add a new perspective. Workto minimize your social media presence, take in the best oflife’s moments without the need to seek approval or commen-tary from others. Live your own life – don’t live before the eyesof others.

Dr P K Koul

Various efforts, by enlightenedsections of society Jammu,Government and semi-Governmentagencies, to make people, young menand children, aware and concious,about the importance of historicalmonuments, archeaological sites andcultural heritage, are encouraging.It is only by knowing our historicalpast, that we can claim to belong toa civilized society and a proud past.However some uneasy and unhealthytrends in identifying for preservation,and conservation of our valuable her-itage sites, and their exploitation fortourism and economical development,can also be observed, and needattention by concerned authoritiesand intellectual public.

While the history, culture and monumentalheritage of Buddhist Kashmir and Ladakh, hasbeen deeply studied, researched upon and nicelydocumented, the Buddhist history and culture ofJammu region, though equally rich and ancientlacks proper intellectual attention, investigation,evaluation and preservation. The evaluational,preservational and developmental efforts of certainhistorical monuments in Jammu being pursued bycertain Governmental and social agencies, seem tobe influenced by their narrow regionalism, castism,sectarian and politically motivated consideration.For example state Archieve and Archeaologicaldepartment does not seem to move beyond the lim-its of Mughal Heritage sites (roads, gardens; build-ings etc.) or Dogra Heritage of recent past.Exploration and preservation of other sites inJammu, which seem to be more rewarding andwith more tourist potential, and belonging toancient and medieval Jammu, seems to be neglect-ed by the Government as well as, unaware-and dis-interested public, which needs to be educatedregarding their importance in our cultural life. Theimportant Buddhist ancient and medievalArchealogical sites and monuments of Jammuregion include those of Ambaran and Manda(Akhnoor - prehistoric to present day), Sakhi maid-an (Mendhar) or Sankhaya Parivein of MilingPanho Questions of Minander (Indo-Greek KingMinander after whom the place finds its name),Ram Kund (the hermitage of Acharya Ayupala ofthe same episode), Kalaban site of BuddhistKundalvan Vihara, (where 4th BuddhistConference seem to be held, in the times ofKanishka, and where the account of deliberations ofthis conference were carved on copper plates anddeposited in the Vihara) the Nag Seni region ofKishtwar with rich Archaeological sites, (whereAcharya Nag Sen of Milind Panho was born andeducated under the guidance of'Acharya Assaguta(or Asav Gupta), Demzi 'with the residentialHermitage of this very Acharya, Sai Draman ruinsin Nag Seni the place of deliberations of AssaguttaWith his disciples, also in Kishtwar, Gupteshwartemple site where Brahmi Inscription of 4th-5thcentury A.D. has been traced and deciphered, the

site of Bindraban in Kishtwar, where an importantand prolonged epigraph in Brahmi or Sharda (stillundeciphered) exists, unattended by ASI or SAD(State Archaeological Department), Sudh Mahadevand Bher Nag sites (Bhairav Nag) Jammu with twothousands years of epigraphic history, KolKandohlis temple architecture, and extremely richNaga sites and cultural heritage at Bulandpur,Pasyal, Duggan, Bari, Karla, Kudgram, Jakhed etc.Their neglect on the part of State Government, andother Governmental, social and cultural bodies fortheir proper development and revival as also placesof tourist destination is very unfortunate.

Lack of financial resources of State Governmentand lack of expertise on the part of StateArcheaological Department may be one of the rea-sons for their neglect; other reasons could be, lackof desired interest on the part of those concernedwith their upliftment, unable to rise above narrowconfines of caste, creed and regional bias and the'ability to handle gigantic nature of the work orexploration and preservation of these Monuments.The reluctance of concerned State Department toapproach Central Department meant for suchworks (as ASI) with more financial resources andskill in matters of exploration and preservation,may be other reason. This is especially true in caseof Kalaban, Mendhar, Sunder Bani, KalakotRamkund, Nag Seni, Bindraban, Monuments andJammu Naga cult sites of great Archeaologicalimportance.

It is well known that credit of major explo-rations, of important J&K heritage sites in Jammu

and Kashmir (Burzhama, Martand, Harwan,Akhnoor, Krimchi, Babor etc.) goes to the ASI asalso to the local Archeaologists, (R. C. Kak and K.N.Shastri). Additional important explorations ofKusan period in Jammu region at Babe-da- Tibba,Kot Bhalwal and Bodh Vihar Manda, with relicsand Gold coin also goes to ASI. Therefore it seemsto be a high time, when we must make over peopleand coming generations conscious of their culturalheritage native for its preservation and develop-ment. Our Monument Heritage scattered over dif-ferent areas and regions of Jammu need to beattended and preserved.

As reported in media, Buddhist tourist sites inKashmir and Ladakh may surely be revived astourist destination and I dare suggest that veryvery important Archeaological and MonumentalBuddhist and other sites do occur in Jammuregion also. We have a recent find of BuddhistStupa at Ambaran in Akhnoor of 1st and 2nd cen-tury A.D., a big Martand like temple type sites atSakhi Maidan and.Kalakote (Temples constructedon ancient remanents of Bodh Milind Vihara etc.).Sakhi Maidan is the Sankhaya Pariven ofMilindPanho. Kundalban Vihara of Kanishkas time mayalso lie in the vicinity of Kalaban near SakhiMaidan, also in Mendhar.

Even place name Mendhar in Poonch derivesits name from Great King Menander, and the GreatAcharya Nag Seni of Menander Episode in theirmemory and in Nag Sen region of Kishtwar. Theimportant archealogical sites of Sai Draman (theplain of Sai or Assagutta or Ashav Gupta, the

famous Buddhist Scholar), and Demzi (the recluseor Tapasvi, Sai's living hermitage), are importantBuddhist sites in Jammu's Buddhist heritage. SaiDraman is the place where Ashav Gupta orArcharya Assagutta held religions deliberationwith his deciples and Dernzy is the place whereTapsvi or Scholar lived. All these names seem to bePali or local dialectical versions of Sanskrit names.

The ancient relics recently found from theStupa at Ambaran can be of none else than ofAcharya Nag Sen, or King Menander who becameBuddhist monk or Arhat after his dialogue and dis-cussion with Acharya Nag Sen (as described inMilind Panho) or of Buddhist saint and Scholar,Asavgupta or Assagutta. The ArcheaologicalSurvey of India's Jammu's SuperintendingArcheaologist, Mr. Mani, who is credited to haveexplored it is so far silent about the identity of therelic, a very important and unsolved question sofar by the ASI.

It is strange that the illustrious son of the soilNag Sen, of Kishtwars Nag Sen region and hisimportant literary work, Milind Panho, in the formof translation in languages of Buddhist countries(Chinese, Buramese Sinhala (cyloneese andEnglish) made its head way and presence viaCentral Asia routes through the agency ofKashmiri Buddhist missionaries, who visited therein the early centuries of Christian era, through Silkroute, but the native scholars of Indi Kashmir andKishtwar never knew that one of the greatest illus-trious scholar from their land lived in Kishtwar in

the hermitage of Nag Sen and preached Buddhismto the world'.

These important Buddhist sites of Jammuregion can be developed as international Buddhistsites of ancient India, and as internationalBuddhist tourist destination. These like Nalandaand Patna and Bodh Gaya (in Bihar) have thepotential to attract developmental assistance andgrants from Buddhist countries like Japan etc.,thus promising great development in the regionand of the people.

State Central Governments the ArcheaologicalSurvey of India, the Ministry of Culture needs tomove forward after 5 in recognizing the culturalimportance of these site, and take effective steps intheir development. A.S.L is already looking worldheritage sites, 99 National Archeaological sites andmonuments and some 3675 heritage sites in Indiaalone, With vast experience, technical know howand expertise in the field. Preservation of Jammuregion's glorious ancient, medieval and present,heritage and monuments scattered all over Jammuis also an important obligation and national duty ofall these agencies as referred above, as well as allintellectuals of Jammu interested in this field.

A complete informational booklet, containingpreliminary details of all noted Archeaological andMonumental sites of the region is what, can bedesired to be published immediately by the con-cerned State or Central Department for the aware-ness of common people, students of educationalinstitutions and researchers in this field.

SUNDAY, JANUARY 31, 2016 INTERNET EDITION : www.dailyexcelsior.com/magazineA solid punch ............PPaaggee 44 Theatre for kids....Page 3

Buddhist Heritage of Jammu

SELFIES The self-obsession?

A view of the excavation site of Ambaran on the outskirts of Akhnoor town, near Jammu city.

These important Buddhistsites of Jammu regioncan be developed asinternational Buddhistsites of ancient India, andas international Buddhisttourist destination. Theselike Nalanda and Patnaand Bodh Gaya (in Bihar)have the potential toattract developmentalassistance and grantsfrom Buddhist countrieslike Japan etc.