Lucknow: In the charred remains of shanties in Vikas Nagar, the fire did not just destroy homes — it erased lifetimes of effort, hopes and dreams.A twisted steel trunk lay half-buried in soot — it once held the wedding preparations of Saira Bano from Sitapur. Inside it were the sarees that she collected over the years, a small set of jewellery and utensils meant for her daughter’s wedding on April 20. Now, only ashes remain.Sitting beside the debris, she clutched a half-burnt invitation card, whispering, “Everything I saved has gone in minutes.”Nearby, Ram Kishore from Hardoi sifted through the rubble with trembling hands. A daily-wage labourer, he spent years saving for his daughter’s marriage. “I had kept Rs 50,000 in cash, some clothes and gifts. Nothing remains,” he said.Karan Kumar was searching for toys he bought from Hyderabad for the birthday of his 5-year-old son, Arjun, on Thursday. The melted box offered no comfort. His wife, Ranjana, broke down. “Even the children’s clothes are gone. We do not even have anything left to wear for tomorrow,” she said.For Sarita Devi from Hardoi, the loss cuts deeper than material things. “My husband works as a driver. We built this life piece by piece, documents, clothes — everything has reduced to ashes. On April 29, my younger sister is to get married. We saved things for her, what do we do now?” she asked.
