India, Oct. 3 -- "Tu sher hai sher," 67-year-old Darshan Dass says as he caresses his son's forehead, sitting by his ICU bed, reminding the 20-year-old that enduring the darkness-under tonnes of debris from the five-storey building that collapsed in Delhi's Satya Niketan-was an act of sheer courage.

When Neeraj, a second-year undergraduate at Motilal Nehru College, left his home in Jammu for Delhi on a scholarship programme, the father thought his only son was headed towards the life he had worked to give him - college education, a promising career, and the ability to 'stand on his own feet'.

It has been 25 days since the building in which his paying-guest accommodation was housed crumbled into dust and debris - killing seven, including...