The two artists work back to back in a small studio, barely 6' across on the edge of Vadodara. They come from West Bengal and make the long journey home, once a year. 40 Hours on the train to Calcutta and then another 12 hours before they reach their villages. The whole area is crisscrossed with rivers, lakes and ponds, all stocked with fish. I had once been told that Bengalis love eating fish so much, that even when they're eating chicken, they keep a picture of a fish in their mind's eye !
"It's true" said Bilas, "...the ponds are stocked with fish and every village has a pond - the fish are caught with nets and fishing rods" The chief delicacy is a fish called 'hilsa'. It's an oily sea water fish, but swims up river to lay its eggs and this is when it is at its best. With the rapture of true connoisseurs, they told me that once you have tasted this fish, you will never forget the flavour. It's full of bones, but Bilas assured me that Bengalis have an inbred skill, of being able to eat fish whilst at the same time spitting out the bones ! And they have 150 ways of preparing hilsa.
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