GEORGE TOWN: S. Puvarasan, three, sat quietly on his mother’s lap while onlookers surrounded them in the Nattukottai Chettiar Temple in Jalan Waterfall here.A man then applied alcohol spray on both his ears.He cringed a little but remained calm until the man pierced his ear lobe with a needle.
He started to struggle and kicked about but his parents, V. Kilimoli, 26, and K. Selvarajah, 31, managed to console their blind son.
Puvarasan, who lost sight in both eyes to retinoblastoma (eye cancer) when he was about a year old, was among 101 children, aged between three and nine, who had their ears pierced for free.Many children, especially the younger ones, were teary-eyed, screamed at the top of their voices and fought when it was their turn to have their ears pierced.The coming of age ceremony –
The Awaken Tradition: 101 Ear Piercings Ceremony – was organised by the Penang State Hindu Youth Council (HYO).Organising chairman A. Suriakumar said the ceremony was the first of its kind.
“The children are from welfare homes or from poor families,” he said.Prior to the ear-piercing ceremony, a group of children performed the traditional Indian peacock and horse dances.
