COIMBATORE: Eight-year-old M Vinothini, who lost both her parents at a young age, might have felt that she was no more an orphan when her school held an ear-piercing ceremony for her last week.After her parents’ death, Vinothini has been brought up by her aged paternal grandmother. The grandmother could never manage to conduct the traditional head shave and ear-piercing ceremony for her.One of her teachers in Government Panchayat Union School at Perur recently noticed her wistfully admiring her friends’ earrings and commenting that she could not wear earrings because her ears had not been pierced.Once the schoolteachers realised that Vinothini did not really have a supportive family, they along with a few good Samaritans working with the school got together to conduct a traditional ear-piercing ceremony.“A social worker, Sethu Murali Raja from Pasiyaara Soru, gifts the child clothes, sweets and crackers every year. We teamed up with him. He brought two more social organisations on board—Makkal Sevai and Friends of Police,” said school headmistress G Kousalya, who organised the entire function.After considering temples and mandapams, they had decided to have the function on the school campus, said the headmistress. The education department gave approval for it.The school’s six teachers pooled in Rs 2,000 to buy Vinothini a new set of clothes and bangles. “Raja and the organisations brought the traditional asari (carpenter) and bought gold studs. We teachers and Samaritans put together the seer thattus and made her classmates hold them,” said Kousalya.On Thursday, Vinothini wearing her new bright pink pavadai and blouse and new glass bangles sat cross-legged on the school verandah as she crunched her eyes in nervousness as the asari pierced her ears. It was followed by claps by her friends and social workers in attendance. Sweets were distributed.Later, a smiling but shy Vinothini posed for photos with her friends, teachers and the social workers. The headmistress deposited Rs 5,000 in a postal savings scheme for Vinothini.

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