वप्सरा आली
Presenting Pune’s official Wapuu and the first female Wapuu from India, Wapsara (वप्सरा).
Wapsara is a play on the Sanskrit word Apsara (अप्सरा), which means a celestial nymph or in common parlance, a very beautiful girl.
We recommend listening to this Marathi song in the background & repeating the chorus:
Why a girl?
We think a Wapuu is supposed to be a fun representation of the local culture. It’s almost patriarchal to imagine a representative Wapuu as almost always male.
Honestly, the gear and attire of men above the Vindhyas is more or less similar with some form of dhoti, a pagdi and a large curly moustache. Also, it’s mostly white.
Women of each region, on the other hand, have varied and way more colourful attire and accessories.
So, we decided to make Wapuu go feminine and dressed her like a cute and beautiful girl from Maharashtra with her nose-ring and earrings, typical dark green skirt-blouse with golden borders, and neat hair pleated and bound by a matching green ribbon. There’s the typical crescent bindi on her forehead too.
Wapsara is designed by Ganesh Kerkar, a WordCamp Pune organiser. Ganesh has previously designed the Pune Community’s logo that Wapsara is holding and a couple of other Wapuus.
How did you like Wapsara; let us know in the comments?