A retailer holds up a hilsa at Lalpur Market in Ranchi on Thursday. (Prashant Mitra)

The hilsa deigned to come down on Thursday from its lofty four-figure tag in Ranchi and sold for Rs 800 on a day when many people opted for a vegetarian Janmashtami menu.

The hilsa — a passion with the Bengali fish lover, who can wax eloquent on its taste, aroma, creamy flesh and even the countless bones — reached rarefied zones of Rs 1,000 to Rs 1,500 per kg this year.

But even Rs 800 for a kilo of fish is nothing to sneeze at. Even in these inflationary times, the sum can buy one over 20 kilograms of rice.

“It is still too costly. Unlike before, I bought it for only three days this season though I love it so much,” said Prashanta Mukherjee, a retired Coal India Limited employee.

Mukherjee is not alone. “Last Sunday, I went to HEC market where the seller offered me a discount of Rs 100. Still, at Rs 900 a kg, I found it too costly and returned home empty-handed,” said Swapan Roy, who normally buys fish at Doranda market.

Retailers like Arun Nishad of Lalpur market or Rajendra Nishad of Doranda plead helpless as they “have to buy at higher rates from Calcutta”.

In Calcutta, sources say the price in 2012 is around 50 per cent higher than last year.

Why the silvery delicacy — some call it India’s caviar — is almost disappearing from dining tables and becoming the stuff of collective nostalgia is due to a complex mesh of reasons.

This year, there’s a sharp decline in catch in both Hooghly and Narmada rivers. Scanty rainfall means less freshwater for the fish which lives in the sea and swims to the rivers to spawn. For instance, fewer hilsa bred in the Hooghly estuaries this year. Increased pollution in the western coast meant the Narmada estuary also had less hilsa.

Rainfall and pollution apart, human greed has also lessened adult hilsa population as fishermen net khoka ilish or the young fish.

Plus, Bangladesh banning hilsa export mean days of supplements from the neighbouring country are over.

All this is not unknown to those smitten by the fish. But they can’t forgive the budget betrayal. In Ranchi, scarcity breaks the hearts of not just Bengalis — buyers are not restricted to one community.

There are many like S.N. Jha, who like it. “I have acquired a taste for steamed hilsa,” said the office-goer.