Hilsha is known as Tenualosa ilisha to the scientific communityhttps://youtu.be/OpkRQLqsMek
and very popular into the people of South-Asia. Sixty-five percent of the total produced of Hilsha in the world produced in Bangladesh which makes it the national fish of the country. Hilsha has an exotic taste and smell which makes the most liked demanded fish in this area. Chandpur, a district of Bangladesh situated at the confluence of two biggest rivers, Padma and Meghna. Which creates a huge estuary at the confluence. This place is has been the Hilsha fishing site for a long time. One of the unique fact about the Hilsha is they live very short to almost none after removing from the water. As a result, we never have seen a Hilsha fish alive in the market. So we planned to visit there to see how they actually catch this famous fish.
We started to our journey from Dhaka. We took a microbus for a round trip to Chandpur which had costed 5000 BDT (around 60 USD). But anyone can take a bus to go there which will cost far less only at 150- 300 BDT one way trip. Bus leaves from Gulistan at 30 minutes interval. We reached after 4 hours with mild traffic on the way then checked in Hotel Gazi (1500 BDT). After lunch, we went to see the confluence of the rivers local people call is “Mohona”. It feels like the ocean with no end except the waves. We hired a boat for 2 hours trip with 400 BDT (4.8 USD). Then we visited almost all the fishing boats found there at that moment. We have seen how they catch that silver Hilsha with long fishing nets and traditional boats. This was an amazing moment for me and that experience of seeing a live Hilsha is so rare for a city person like me. After that, we went to the nearby fish market to buy those fishes where they sell. We bought 2 pairs of Hilsha with a lot less money than the regular market.
If you visit the city of Hilsha and do not taste the fresh Hilsha in the full season then it will be a great loss. But we didn’t miss the chance. We gave two fishes to the nearby restaurant to give us fish fry on the spot. They did an excellent job in preparing them and having them with a small portion of rice, brinjal fry, and lentil soup one of the best food combinations for me.
In the evening we returned back home with a pleasant view
in our mind.
