New Delhi:
"You tried your best to honour your commitment to Megha till your last suffocating breath," wrote Shyam Nagpal in a poem for his wife Madhu six days after the Uphaar fire tragedy in 1997. "Megha doesn't know but she will find out soon that you gave your life, to save hers."
Megha was only four years old when a fire broke out at the Uphaar cinema hall in Delhi, and in the melee, she was separated from her mother, Madhu. "Madhu managed to escape, but couldn't find Megha so she went back inside to look for her. God didn't give her a second chance," says Megha's father, Shyam Nagpal.
It has been 18 years today since the Uphaar fire tragedy killed 59 people, 23 of the children.
Today as the prayer service begins, all the families pray together, black bands on their arms. "This is the first time in 18 years we are protesting. When will we get justice? Aren't 18 years enough?" asks Mr Nagpal.
The Ansal brothers, Sushil and Gopal, who owned the theatre, were found guilty of causing death by negligent act by a Delhi court. They were convicted by the Supreme Court in March 2014, but more than a year later, the court hasn't pronounced the quantum of punishment.
The wait has not only been frustrating and bitter, it's keeping these families away from getting any closure. "I draw strength from my children," says Neelam Krishnamoorthy, who lost both her teenaged children in the fire.
Last year, she sent the Union government a draft on setting up a law to deal with man-made mass tragedies like Uphaar. She is still waiting for a reply.
As families quietly offer flowers at the memorial where lamps are lit for the lives lost, an old woman walks up to the collage of photos mounted nearby. She moves closer to the photos of young children, aged between six and 13, and blows them kisses. As she turns away wiping her tears, her grandchildren's smiling faces are a sharp contrast to how her and the lives of other families haven't really been able to move on, as if frozen on that fateful day of June 13, 1997.