MOTIHARI, Bihar, India, 6 August - On any given day, the state of Bihar is just another byword for poverty, synonymous with the extremes that characterise the inequality and injustice that India's poor endure.

Some say that Bihar - where Buddha is said to have attained enlightenment - is a land cursed by the gods, and that Buddha himself had foreseen extreme hardship for its people.

Working with UNICEF, one is constantly battling to steer clear of myths and generalisations, and to get to the heart of the issue or the problem at hand. And the monsoonal pounding the subcontinent received this year has been particularly harsh on Bihar - yet again.

Causing devastation on a scale not seen in recent years, the floods have forced 2 million people out of their homes and into the mercy of the outdoors. Almost half of Bihar is under water and 10 million have been affected alone in this state.

After driving for five hours along Bihar's treacherous roads - dodging bullock carts, groups of people casually ambling along, cows, motorcyclists, the occasional dog smack in the middle and trucks that try to force you off the roads - we arrive in East Champaran, one of the worst affected districts.

As soon as we get out of the car we are confronted by hundreds of people, anger and desperation stamped clearly on their faces. They swarm around us, a steady stream of loud voices, touching us, nudging us, complaining about food and shelter, and why we're not doing enough.

When they notice our shirts and realise that we're from UNICEF, the crowd becomes less hostile and lets us pass through. Looking around and beyond the unkempt rows of flimsy make-shift tents of tarpaulin and household material, we're informed that under water - courtesy of the nearby Burhi Gandak river - lie the villages of Madhubani and Bardaha.

Barely visible on the horizon are tiny specks of what can only be the rooftops of straw huts, peeking out from under the water. We make our way slowly along the embankment, which is now home to more than 20,000 people from the two villages.

Ironically, the villagers of Bardaha and Madhubani are among the lucky ones in East Champaran. They have received food aid from the government of Bihar. They also have access to a medical camp, water purification tablets and other life-saving basics, which have been supported by UNICEF and other agencies.

"There are entire villages that are only accessible by boat and which have been cut off for the last two weeks," says Amar, the district coordinator for Samajik Shod Evam Vikas Kendra, a partner non-governmental organisation of UNICEF that is coordinating the relief efforts in East Champaran.

Further along the embankment, we come upon a group of shy women with infants in their arms. They are from the Musahar community, and in the heavily stratified Hindu caste system, are considered untouchables.

Living on the fringes of towns and villages, their lives are marked by discrimination every day. They do the most menial of jobs for the lowest of wages, in this case getting paid the equivalent of 75 cents for eight hours of work.

"My husband is still living on the roof of our house," says a woman named Ghuguri, clutching two of her six children, who are all living in the camp with her. "I don't know how he is or what he is doing."

We notice two other women squatting further away from the group, using their saris to shield their infants from the late afternoon sun. One of them is Subhagi. She escaped the floodwaters in the middle of the night, just three days after giving birth. Her neighbour Parmila, in the last stages of pregnancy, gave birth at the camp, aided only by her sister-in-law.

The women and children of Bihar have it hard enough during the best of times. Only 34.1 percent of pregnant women in the state receive any form of ante-natal care, and more than 56 percent of children under five are malnourished.

Fortunately, there is a medical camp here and the government of Bihar, with support from UNICEF, has swung into action, mobilising 50 mobile two-doctor teams to the most affected districts. These medical teams are treating the injured and providing medication, vaccinating children against measles and distributing fortified biscuits to prevent outbreaks of hunger.

Later, accompanied by Amar, we board a boat to survey the damage further inland. Although we're wearing life jackets we begin to get nervous when we discover water seeping in. "Don't worry, we can use this to scoop water out from the boat," says one of the rowers, holding up a steel bowl, as if sensing our apprehension.

Almost at once, we all feel guilty for thinking about our personal safety, at a time when these same people are navigating us past the rooftops of their own homes, submerged under 5 to 8 feet (2 to 3 metres) of water.

Before we leave we meet with another group camping on the other end of the same embankment. "Every year we are mentally prepared for the waters to rise, but this year our land just got transformed into a sea," says a grandmother named Sita Devi.

"Now we will just wait for the rains to stop, and for the waters to go back into the earth," she says, echoing the resilience and the stoicism of the people of Bihar.

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