Born in a highly cultured family in Pabna, it was never tough for Ila to get involved with classical songs. In 1954 she met the charismatic Pandit Barin Majumdar and started training under him. Though Ila never attended school, she gave private examinations and went on to attend college. Once in college, she won many prizes and accolades for her harmonious voice, but it was during an inter-district competition that she won the first prize and established herself as a leading classical singer of the time. From that time onwards she started singing for radio as well as television.

Ila and Barin Majumdar got married in 1960. With Ila by his side, Barin Majumdar fulfilled a cherished dream to open a music college in our country. Established in 1963, the Monihar Sangeet Academy was the first of its kind in the country. Being a student of Lucknow Maurice College, Barin was deeply moved by the plight of singers of our country and their knowledge in this classical form. Hence he designed the curriculum in such a way that roughly 60 percent of the course, covered music whereas the rest of the course covered Bangla, English, History, Geography, Physics, Chemistry and Mathematics. "At the time, everyone thought combining music with education was madness. However, Barin was determined to make it happen and went from door to door to gain support for the idea," recalls Ila.

An ex-teacher of logic and philosophy, not to mention classical music, Ila thinks in order to become a good classical singer one has to have a god-gifted voice. She also strongly believes that a good teacher is a must to carry the voice to higher levels.

"The student must have deep respect for the teacher and the art," she emphasises.

A follower of the Agra gharana, Ila is fond of ragas such as Jay Jayanti, Sankara, Puriya dhanasree and Bahar. She stresses the need for every budding singer to have a basic education in at least one form of raga, before venturing out to other branches. While her son Bappa Majumdar is a popular modern singer, he has had the basic classical training from his father Barin, informs Ila.

Ila philosophises, "Many of the youngsters coming up have excellent voices but they don't have the patience to train. Actually the composition of human nature itself is changing. During our times, depth of character and thought was respected, whereas now being light and easy going is preferred. It is so simple to get fame and money in the other form of arts that youngsters naturally would go for that."

Ila no longer teaches music in batches, but she still helps children who come to learn this almost extinct form of art. Though she is very proud of her two sons Bappa and Partho Majumdar, her memories of her daughter whom she lost during the 1971 war and her life partner Barin keep her going.