Raita Raseela:

I am lactose intolerant and therefore, I stay away from dairy products. Yet, this evening, the bizarre me decided to give my cook a day off and ordered pineapple and anar Raita from a neighbourhood eatery, The Green Kitchen. As luck would have it, the app-based delivery executive vanished with the order and I managed a replacement from the company (that's a story for another day!) After almost 2 hours, the food arrived! I opened this neatly packed, chilled box of Raita. Looked rather plain jane. My lactose hating alter ego laughed. But I decided to stay hopeful. As a matter of habit, I smell my food to awaken my gastronomy desires. It smelled fresh. Treading on the side of caution, I served myself three spoonfuls of the Raita. The moment it touched my tongue, I yelped with delight. This was perhaps the most ingenious Raita I had in my lifetime. It was a heavenly mix of curd, caramelised pineapple or what we call murabba and achaari anaar, with a generous sprinkling of coriander leaves. 
My unsuspecting order was now my comfort food. Better still, the owner of the restaurant called me. She seemed to be an elderly lady who apologized for the delivery goof up and worried that I may have received a 'not-so-chilled' Raita. Her endearing approach drove away the last bit of lactose intolerance and all I could do was savour every last drop of the sweet and tangy, flavour-rich curd dish. 
The age old proverb that the way to a man's heart is through his stomach holds true till date. The Lady and her Raita touched my heart and left an indelible impression. Yeh Raita Nahin Faila ☺️

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