His full-time job as a mechanic leaves him tired every day, yet he feels “recharged” by the joy he brings to his customers in his second job as a cotton candy maker.

“I love this job. When I’m making cotton candy, I don’t feel tired and all my stress goes away. I love seeing the wonder and delight in my customers’ eyes, especially the children.”

Mugilan, who earned the moniker “Candy Boy”, only picked up the trade last year before the movement control order (MCO) came into effect.

To date, he has already mastered 18 cotton candy designs, including eight which he created.

Eight of these designs are his original ideas, which include a panda, Hello Kitty, and six types of flowers.

After his father — the family’s main breadwinner — suffered a stroke, Mugilan began working at the cotton candy stall, Candy Snowy, at the i-City Theme Park as a means to earn some extra money to support the family.

“My father has done so much for us growing up. I did not want him to suffer or worry about us once he could not work, so I went to look for another job so I could help out.”

That was when Mugilan, who had always been fascinated by cotton candy, saw a vacancy advertisement for a cotton candy maker.

Now, he works six days a week, first as a mechanic from 8am to 6pm, and then making cotton candy from 8pm to midnight.

He only takes a short break in between his two jobs to shower and have dinner.

“I am happy just to see the smile on my customers’ faces, but when they compliment me on my designs and enthusiasm, it’s something else. It just means so much to me.

“It makes me want to do better and come up with new designs.”

Mugilan says he is happy that restrictions are being eased again and that he can serve more people.

Now, he is saving as much money can so that he can open his own workshop and cotton candy shop one day.

“I will name my shop, ‘Arumugam Panju Mittai’ in honour of my father,” he said, explaining that ‘Panju Mittai’ is the Tamil name for cotton candy