Visakhapatnam, April 30 -- Kongara Ramesh is a man of many obsessions. Dabbling in self-taught homeopathy like thousands of practitioners in India, he has treated tens of thousands, free of cost. A school dropout, he is also the creator of a handful of unique varieties of mangoes, India's most beloved fruit.

Ramesh is, what you may call, a seasoned plant breeder. In the early 2000s, he developed a mango that can be frozen skin-on, and stored for months-on-end, peeled like a banana, and savoured like an ice lolly. A terrific feat because mangoes are known to have a short shelf life, usually less than 10 days (only pulp can be frozen and used later). Nearly all known commercial cultivars are susceptible to chill injury, meaning the fruit c...