Goals: Grow food

The sour leaf of Assam and Manipur, cooked with fish and pork.

Egg-shaped tart fruit on a soft-wooded small tree of the eastern hills.

The squash that covers a whole roof in one season across the eastern hills.

The thin-skinned Assam lemon, fragrant enough to scent a whole kitchen.

The loose-skinned orange of the Khasi and Jaintia hills, ripe in December.

A tuberous legume of Meghalaya, eaten raw and crisp with salt and mustard oil.

Hard glossy grain used as food, as beads and as a brewing grain in the hills.

The kodo of the Deccan and central hills — drought-proof and long-storing.

A short-season millet of the northern hills, sown when the season has been lost.

Half the country’s calories — and a bucket of it on a terrace teaches more than any book.