Natisha Shah hid quietly under her bed on the first floor, clutching the youngest of her five children, 13-year-old Yasmeen. The two stayed under cover till 8.30 pm, even as the gas cylinders burst outside her gate and started burning the house down. It was only when the flames caught up with them and it got too suffocating, that she tried to escape with Yasmeen. With the staircase on fire, she decided to go up to the roof and jump onto her neighbour’s house.

Shakily, she recounts, “There was smoke all over. After two unsuccessful attempts, my son finally had to come with 20 policemen and 3 relatives to open the burning gate. I’m a widow, and my only son has two kids. He is just lying in shock, his head is not working. He had to climb a ledge and nearly fell unconscious… We walked through the fire with our faces covered, and he got us out.”

Accompanied by two daughters, Nafeesa comes to retrieve her family’s partially burnt Quran - their holy book. Hearing loud chanting, they scramble to find any clean clothes that may still be left. Their soot-blackened hands soil the cloth, as they hurry to rush back. When they are told that it’s some Sikh men who’ve have come to the locality in support, they sigh in relief. The cries of the Sikhs ring out in the dusty air, “Bole Sonihal!” (Whoever utters, shall be fulfilled).