A Hindu father and his young son watch the Thaipusam festival Thursday in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Defying pain, hundreds of Hindus pierced themselves with steel rods, needles and hooks in the annual religious ritual of thanksgiving and atonement. Devotees paid homage to their god, Muruga, in a huge cave, and priests pierced their cheeks with spikes up to 3 feet long.
