Adhanpur is not semi-urban. But its plush houses belie that assumption.

The village’s Dalit head Hirawati Devi, whose wealth is not lacking in agricultural land, is perhaps the only family living in a hut — because her son Dharmendra left the lures of Mumbai last year to help out his illiterate gram pradhan mother.

This success story is retold in several villages around Adhanpur — in Javanshipur, Patti, Kasiyav, Jaldipur, Kuttupur and Changapur. The men are all in Mumbai, as cabbies, milkmen, cowshed owners, security guards and even small-scale businessmen.

Hirawati Devi said nearly 75 per cent of families in these villages are in Mumbai.

Adhanpur’s love affair with the tinsel town started more than half a century ago, she said, when several thakurs and Brahmins migrated to Mumbai to start tabelas or cowsheds in the city’s Goregaon and Santa Cruz areas.

Their sons have branched out into more profitable businesses and have even built their own colony in Akolha near Mumbai’s domestic airport.

Village elder Prasidh Narayan Singh, who came back in 1997 after working in Modi Tyres for 35 years, said: “Marathis do not disturb us. We celebrate the Ganesh Utsav with as much zeal as they do.”

Singh’s four sons, builder Ram Ujagar (builder), PCO owner Vinod, Congress leader Ajay and scribe Vijay have ensured that most members of the family stay back in Mumbai. Singh however prefers the huge house in Adhanpur.

Another villager, Mata Prasad Singh, who retired as a Hindi teacher in 2003, also spent his career in Mumbai.

“Our children are still there. We have come back to enjoy the retirement benefits,” he said. “Barring one Brahmin family which lives in Surat, all other 29 families of Adhanpur have members working in Mumbai.”

Dhanush Dhari Singh also returned to the village in 2003 but his sons Sailesh and Kamlesh work with Air India and a private security agency in Mumbai.

While Adhanpur, Patti and Javanshipur are home to those in diverse occupations, neighbouring Kuttupur and Changapur have family members who only drive taxis in Mumbai. Changapur post office in-charge Nandlal Tiwari said, “At least 100 taxi drivers in that city are from these villages.”

A few years ago, he said, money orders from Mumbai amounted to Rs 3 lakh to Rs 5 lakh every month for Changapur, Kuttupur, Kadipur and Gaddipur villages.

“Now there are ATMs. They put in the money directly for elders living here. But Jaunpuri Mumbaikars still send cash worth Rs 2 lakh,” he said.

One also notices a fleet of cars and motorcycles in these villages which have Maharashtra registration numbers.

However, the elders are worried for their sons today, following the anti-north wave that has lashed on Maharashtra — fuelled by the rhetoric of Maharashtra Nav Nirman Sena leader Raj Thackeray.

Retired Satya Narayan Singh of Jaldipur spent nearly four decades in Mumbai working in the Western Railway. he is worried about his sons in Mumbai.

“We are in touch with them constantly. Similar incidents took place against non-Marathis in the late 1960s when Bal Thackeray was young. Indira Gandhi had ensured then that no one should leave Mumbai under pressure. But Sonia Gandhi is not interested in preserving the cosmopolitan nature of the city,” Singh said.

Prasidh Narayan Singh sounded tough.