Betterlife - The Diary Game | 29 July, 2025 | Befriending a beautiful cat and the experience of buying our national fish hilsha..

Thumbnail Image:- Hilsa: The National Fish of Bengalis

Assalamu Alaikum friends, I hope you are all doing well. It's currently the month of Srabon in the Bengali calendar, which is known as the monsoon season in our country. For the past few days, it's been raining all day long, and there's no sign of it stopping anytime soon according to the weather forecast. I expect this kind of weather to continue for a few more days.

Anyway, when I woke up this morning, I noticed it was raining heavily outside. I stood outside my house for a while, enjoying the rain. The nearby ponds, canals, and drains were all overflowing with water. While rain brings comfort to many but for daily wage earners this continuous rain brings a lot of problems.

^{Enjoying a delightful spell of rain from our balcony after waking up}

After finishing breakfast, I wanted to go out, but the rain was too heavy, so I decided to complete some desk task from home. I spent the morning working on my laptop. Friends, it's currently hog plum season, a fruit rich in Vitamin C.

Every season brings some new fruits, and one should try to eat all seasonal fruits at least once a year. While working, I noticed my mother had cut some hog plums for me. They are tart, so they taste great with a little salt mixed with local spices.

^{Eating hog plum, one of the year's seasonal sour fruits}

I was finishing my remaining tasks, eating slice by slice, and didn't even realize when they were all gone. Normally, I might never have finished such a tart fruit if I ate it casually.

Just then, a beautiful cat came to where I was working. Many cats are afraid of people, but this cat wasn't afraid at all and was very friendly with me. After staying for a while, it left.

^{A cute cat joining me while I worked}

After work, I spent the afternoon at home. A friend called me at noon and informed me that due to the high tide in the Bay of Bengal, fishermen were catching a lot of Hilsa fish. Hilsa season only occurs at this time of year.

In the afternoon, I decided to go to Kattali Hilsa Ghat because I could get larger fish at a lower price there. I needed some money to go to the market, so I withdrew it using OK app from the One Bank Colonel Hat branch ATM.

^{Withdrawing money from an ATM using a mobile wallet}

Kattali Hilsa Ghat is located right next to the sea in a fishing village. So, I had to take an auto-rickshaw from the highway to get inside the coastal area. By the time I reached the market, it was almost evening. It was very muddy there due to the rain.

At the market, I noticed a large number of Hilsa sellers. Besides Hilsa, other fresh sea fish like Loitta, Coral, Poa, Kata, Hundara, etc were also available. I visited a few sellers' shops to inquire about prices.

^{A vibrant display of all kinds of sea fish at Hilsa Ghat}

Hilsa is our national fish, but most people in our country cannot afford to eat this favorite Bengali fish because its price is out of our reach. The price of Hilsa fish is higher than all other fish, and it's only available for purchase for a short period each year.

Since small fish have many bones, most people prefer to buy the larger sizes. I bought three egg-filled Hilsa fish, weighing 700-800 grams each, from a seller after having them weighed. The total weight was about 2 kg 200 grams, and they charged 1100 taka per kg.

^{I bought three Hilsa fish from these for our home}

Every Bengali wants to eat this fish once a year, but due to the price, many people are deprived of eating their favorite fish. There are many reasons for this, among which are that fishermen cannot catch this fish except for specific times and regions, and they also have to follow various government restrictions to catch this fish. I hope the price of Hilsa will decrease further this season, and everyone will be able to buy it.