Varanasi residents share a good laugh at annual owl festival

Thousands of happy-go-lucky people flocked to Varanasi on Saturday to observe the annual 'Ulook Mahotsava' or Owl Festival, an event for cracking jokes on virtually anything.

The festival, which has become part of the city folklore, helps people find ways to be happy, and also to have a laugh at themselves.

A poets' meet was organised as a part of the annual festival, where the residents danced, beat drums and burst crackers.

Hindu devotees traditionally worship owls because of their association with the goddess of prosperity, Lakshmi.

This year the poets took pot-shots at the political scenario in the country through satire.

Poet Dharamsheel Chaturvedi said the programme aims to address the discrepancies across the world.

"The Owl Festival is a great platform to attack the absurdity of the nation and the world. We believe whatever idiotism is going on is not good for the nation and the world," said Chaturvedi.

The residents believed an event like this is a great stress buster.

"It is a festival which creates an environment of fun and helps in relieving stress. Poets address different problems faced by people in this nation. The problems are addressed in such a way that people have fun and laugh on themselves," said a resident, Shriprakash Shukla.

Shukla added the Owl Festival should be celebrated in other parts of the country too.

The festival is a continuation of the celebrations of the festival of lights, Diwali that is celebrated in a rather grand manner throughout the country.

However, this festival is objected to by wildlife conservationists who feel that such practices promote the hunting and the selling of this nocturnal bird.