Hardworking people who toil from dawn to dusk and beyond speak about their everyday lives and what they want from the sarkar as Bihar prepares to vote.
Chhath and Diwali bring back lakhs of migrant workers back to Bihar every year. Trains run packed and special trains are added to cater to the rush-hour demand of passengers.
This time, the two-phase Bihar election falls a week after Chhath, Bihar's most important festival.
Umesh Shah is a cook who travels as far as Tamil Nadu and Gujarat to prepare meals for labourers at construction sites or factory plants.
He earns Rs 25,000 a month.
When he runs out of work, he returns home during the wedding season and is employed as a cook for various weddings in his village or nearby.
He then earns Rs 1,400 to Rs 1,600 a day.
And then when the wedding season is over, he works as a daily wager earning Rs 450 a day.
Each election, he makes it a point to return home to vote.
His one big aspiration from the government is that it should create job opportunities for him locally so that he does not have to go to other states for a livelihood.
A few days ago, Rs 10,000 was transferred to his wife's account under the Chief Minister's Mahila Rozgar Yojana, the election promise made by Nitish Kumar.
She bought a sewing machine on which her daughter stitches blouses for women in the village.
"It would be nice if I could get a loan to buy a cart, stove and start selling chhole," he says.
Listen to what he has to say about Nitish Kumar's failed liquor ban, the inability of the BJP to come to power on its own and why Tejashwi Yadav's promise of providing government job to one member in every family is "namumkin [impossible]."
Part 2 of people's voices from the ground as Bihar prepares to vote:
'All I want is a roof of my own'
Masuma Khatun, cook and housekeeper, has voted every election.
She has a ration card, aadhar card, ayushman card [provides 5 lakh per family for treatment in hospitals].
The mother of three daughters, the eldest has completed Class 12. She received a cycle, books, money for uniform under Nitish Kumar's scheme for girls education under his chief ministership while in school.
Ms Khatun's husband used to be a painter, but stopped looking for work years ago. He lives off his wife's hard work as a maid and small tailoring jobs, outsourced by tailors in the local market.
She went to the cyber cafe to fill out the online form to avail the Rs 10,000 disbursed by the CM's Mahila Rozgar Yojana to help women start small business. The cyber cafe owner took Rs 100 to fill the form for her.
Till she last checked in the bank, the money had not been transferred yet.
Ms Khatun has also opened a post office scheme where she puts Rs 200 every month.
With no house of her own, she rents a place for Rs 4,500.
With elections two weeks away, her greatest need is a house.
"If I could get a government scheme for cheap housing, that will fulfill my biggest need."
Videos Production by Rajesh Karkera/Rediff
Photograph curated by Manisha Kotian/Rediff
Feature Presentation: Aslam Hunani/Rediff