Children at the prayer meeting at Connaught Place in Delhi
As 17-year-old Pooja lit the candle, her eyes welled up. She was among the 1000 odd students from Delhi's government schools who gathered at the ceremonial flag post in central Delhi's Connaught Place to pay homage to the children who were killed in a Taliban attack at an Army-run school in Pakistan's Peshawar on Tuesday.
As the band played a solemn tune, Pooja said, "I watched what happened on TV. I couldn't stop crying. I saw interviews of children - they were saying that terrorists will fall short of bullets but their determination won't falter. They are so brave."
Her classmate Meenu Arya added, "How can anyone be so heartless? Whatever happened is terrible. We stand here in support of all those students and parents."
Candles were lit around 132 white flowers, one each for the children who died in the heinous attack.
Jalaj Srivastav, director, New Delhi Municipal Corporation told reporters, "We need to think of having alarms in schools like they have in banks. We are also considering training of school staff and personnel to handle such situations."
Following Tuesday's attack, an advisory from the Ministry of Home Affairs has placed New Delhi on the terror hit-list.