New Delhi, July 24 -- Growing up in East Pakistan (now Bangladesh), Purabi Chowdhury remembers a time when hilsa or ilish from the Padma and Meghna rivers was so abundant that no one really talked about it. "Back then, it was never a matter of discussion because it was easily available. It was also within everyone's reach. There was neither any hype nor any scarcity," says the 70-year-old.

During the monsoon, if there was no rohu or any other catch on the table, there was hilsa. It was simply another fish to cook and eat, not the prized seasonal delicacy it has become today, she adds.

Now settled in North 24 Parganas in West Bengal, Chowdhury returns to the fish market every season with the same questions: Kothakar ilish (Where is it fr...