Illish is also cooked in a special kind of oil – known popularly in Bengal as ‘macher tel’ (fish oil) which is eaten with rice, as well. Deep frying this fish and simply having it is also as popular, for people who want a low-effort version of this fish.
But this fish itself is constant – and the song aptly states that when it says, “Illish chara brishti ta jombe na.” (Without hilsa fish, the rains won’t be as perfect.)
The last paragraph of the song delves into how the fish is 1200 rupees per kilo, and very, very expensive for fish, but that’s fine.
Illish is an indulgence, and as the song ends with “It’s fine, I’ll substitute my budget by eating sabzi and saag for the rest of the week, if I get to eat this great fish for one day.”
The money is not the only factor that makes the fish exclusive – it is the feeling of landing your hands on sometime that sells out within minutes of hitting the market and has people squabbling over prices, and handing over notes, to coming home with a sense of achievement, knowing that you are going to feast well for one lunch – and it makes you feel like a ‘Maharaj.’
The song ends with Somak asking, “kanta ta benche dibi toh?”(you’ll pick the bones out for me, right?) bringing to full circle all the nuances of Illish – the bones being a characteristic feature of the fish, as it is riddled with thin, tiny bones which are all over the place and almost a task in itself to dig out.
Despite these, what Bengali’s term as a minor inconvenience, the hilsa sales sky-rocket everytime they hit the market every monsoon, and no matter the time, this fish is always a favorite.
The composers of the song, Somak and Agni have started putting out occasional videos with humor content, on their live radio and also on their YouTube page.