The people of North Bihar take great pride in the newly built National Highway 57. After a bridge was completed in 2012, the highway flows like a ribbon through districts on both sides of the river Kosi.

On the morning of September 17, however, just ahead of the town of Darbhanga, a group of men stood blocking the eastward lanes, waiving traffic to the other side of the road. It soon became clear why. A little ahead, more than hundred girls and women walked in a line, holding clay pots on their heads.

The sight was reminiscent of Chhath puja, the traditional worship of the Sun God, which is done along the banks of rivers in Bihar, and which has now been exported to wherever the people of Bihar have migrated. In recent years, Juhu beach in Mumbai has become a major venue for the puja, much to the ire of parties like the Shiv Sena and Maharashtra Navnirman Sena, which have targeted Bihari migrants in the past.

But the village of Bhatpura wasn't celebrating Chhath. In what should warm the hearts of Maharashtra's parochialists, the loudspeakers travelling on a cart alongside the procession were blaring 'Ganpati Bappa Morya'.

Narayan Chaudhary, a middle-aged man who stood directing the crowds, said about a hundred men from the village lived and worked in Mumbai. He had himself worked as an office peon in Andheri for over a decade. “While living in Mumbai, we began to take part in Ganeshotsav and we thought why not bring it to our village,” he said.

The village now sets up a pandal every year, installing and worshiping an idol of Ganesh, which is immersed after eleven days. In classic fusion, it’s also added the local tradition of kalash puja, keeping pots filled with holy water alongside the idol and immersing them on the final day.

While we couldn't stay back to see the idol that was about to be seated in a large purple and silver coloured pandal, in a village ahead, we came across a smaller celebration. An old couple whose sons lived in Mumbai were offering bondi ladoos to a small idol of Ganpati at home.