It is eight days since 12-year-old Samata and her family began
negotiating with the floodwaters, living on the highway and
thinking about returning to their damaged home in Bihar, north-
east India. “My home is gone. The flood has taken everything,”
said Samata’s mother, Shila Devi. Shila is a housewife who takes
care of her five children, her blind mother-in-law and ill
husband. And the floods that hit their village, Nayatol
Mathaphukhri, have shown no mercy this time. When the floods hit
the village, Samata and her family were fortunate to have stayed
near the pedestal land where the highway runs. Most of the
families in the village survived the floods because they were
evacuated in time, but most of their belongings perished. Near
their home lies a crumbled thatched house whose owner could not
be found because his family are living on the highway. And
hundreds more villagers will tell similar stories of how they
have lost their homes, crops, animals, food and clothing. The
highway 77, connecting Patna city