Groups of young people working to create a virtual version of Wari, the colourful annual padayatra to the Vitobha temple in Pandharpur in Maharashtra’s Solapur district, have woven social causes into their effort: among their creations is ‘Facebook Dindi: A Virtual Wari’, which has logged over 10 million hits and gets 5 to 6 lakh ‘likes’ during the Ashadh month of the yatra.
Like other prominent social media groups for the Wari, such as the Chala Warila-Gyaneshwar Maharaj Palki, Mukta Bai Wari, Nivrutti Nath Wari and Wari Panchariche-Gajanan Maharaj Palki, which came up later, Facebook Dindi is made up mostly of professionals from the IT and IteS sectors, and also artists, photographers and bloggers. Together, they have helped millions follow the Wari virtually, and helped NGOs garner funds.
Facebook Dindi helped the Environmental Forum of India raise about ₹10 lakh for drinking water schemes in Baramati in 2016. Similarly, Niramal Wari’s campaign against open defecation resulted in nearly 1,000 makeshift toilets being built for pilgrims. Another initiative, Street Sense, had bike-riding Pune-based doctors and engineers volunteering with a bike ambulance service during the trek.
‘It is her journey’
This year, Facebook Dindi’s focus is on the girl child. For its Wari Tichi (It is her journey) project, the members gathered original material, including posters, pictures and poetry, on treating women as equals. The initiative draws heavily from the ‘Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao’ (Save the girl child, educate the girl child) campaign, with messages spread via Facebook, Twitter, Whatsapp, Instagram, a YouTube channel, and blogs.
“It is not that we are trying to be trendy. This isn’t very different from what saints like Tukaram did 800 years ago. They spoke against discrimination based on religion, caste, class and gender. Now, we are trying to do the same thing using modern technology,” explains Swapnil More, a computer science graduate who started Facebook Dindi with his friends in 2010. Now, he works with a team of 12 volunteers and about 11,000 contributors. Mr. More, who lives in Dehugaon near Pune, says he is the 11th generation descendant of Sant Tukaram.
A believer walks along the annual pilgrimage
As part of the Wari Tichi campaign, volunteers interviewed women’s rights activists and broadcast them for a month. A ‘mannequin challenge’ was also taken up by some Mumbai-based photographers — students dressed as warkari s (pilgrims) posed for photographs that highlighted female infanticide and dowry, and called for equal rights for widows.
Research and restore
Vinayak Vangapalli from Bidar is part of the research team, and uploads pictures, videos and articles for Facebook Dindi. He travelled to villages on the Karnataka-Maharashtra border for stories on the warkari movement. The Wari Ringan video, created by fixing a camera on a horse that walks along with the pilgrims and performs a circular dance, is among the most watched, he says. This year’s Wari ended on July 4.
Other contributors include Pradeep Sugandhi from Haveri, Abhishek Patil from Bagalkot and Kumar Shitole Sarkar from Belagavi.
Some Facebook Dindi members are translating the works of the Wari saints and collaborating with Abhanga Repost, a fusion music band, to record abhang s (devotional songs) of Tukaram and other saints.
