India, Oct. 27 -- The otherwise deserted villages of Mithilanchal have suddenly become populous, filled with unfamiliar faces and accents that don't sound native. It's happening in villages such as Dekuli, Madanpur, Ughra, Usmamatha, Shankar Lohar, and Pator dotting on the flanks of the Darbhanga-Baheri road and Kakarghati, Tarsarai, Sakri, Nawada, Aradiya-Sangram, and Phulparas on the Darbhanga-Supaul road.

But don't mistake the visitors for outsiders. They are the very sons and daughters of these villages, who were forced to migrate from Bihar in their teenage years in search of livelihood. Like migratory birds, they return home every year, spend a few days, then depart again.

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