Halva, the traditional sweet of Northern India, is cooking as Rupa Jha sits around the fire talking to villagers in her home state of Bihar.

But the conversation is not a happy one.

As they eat, her companions remember the 34 neighbours and friends who were butchered the last time there was a wedding here.

Now no-one will make an offer of marriage to any of the girls in the village, such is the fear of another massacre.

This is what passes for ordinary life in this region, where ownership of the land has been the cause of intermittant guerilla warfare between landlords and peasants for more than 40 years.

Listen to the programme
	Listen to the programme

First broadcast in July 2005. Produced by Rupa Jha of the BBC's Hindi Service.