New Delhi, Feb. 15 -- The mahua trees are in bloom. Everywhere across this landscape-rocky undulations carpeted with tough grass, dotted with small, dense groves of bamboo and the scraggly canopies of mahua trees, there is the messy profusion of pink flowers. This is a busy time for villagers here, in the tribal lands in the district of Simdega, roughly 150km from Ranchi in Jharkhand.

The mahua flowers bloom for a single day and fall, leaving a rich carpet of pink and pale green around the base of the trees. The flowers are highly coveted-fermented and distilled into the local drink of the same name-and most villagers are busy collecting them. A sweet, almost sickly smell permeates the air. The fragrance of the mahua attracts not just hu...