Have you been kissed yet? Well, I have. And I have been kissed since a very young age. Ever since, I have loved the experience. Hershey’s Kisses, one of my all time favourite chocolates just makes me feel like ‘I’m in love’ or ‘Life is beautiful’ every time I have it.

I used to have cousins living in the US who would visit India once a year. I would eagerly wait for them to come as along with them would come a whole load of goodies. My favourite would be this Ziplock bag that would have a number of ‘candies’ (as they would like to call it). It was undoubtedly my most desired bag of goodies. Hershey’s Plain Chocolate, Dark, miniature Snickers, Mars, Galaxy, Bounty and yes, my all time favourite, Hershey’s Kisses.

I would wait for them to leave home so that I could pounce on my bag of chocolates and eat them all. They would hardly last a week. Kisses would be the first that I would feast on. Shaped like tear drops they would be ideal for one single bite. Wrapped in colourful aluminium foils, they, I always thought were wrapped with this ingredient that would add in an extra pound of happiness. Colourful, small, and cute, they always signified joy and festivity to me. I can still recollect how happy I would be on popping just one of them – Dark, Almond, Caramel, Plain, Milk or even Hugs. And, yes, I could never stop at one. It would go on and on and on. It simply felt great.

Recently I saw them at Namdhari’s. I was super excited and wanted to grab them. A half a kilo packet would cost us Rs. 450. So I held back. But my friend who was accompanying me insisted that he would buy it and I could take a few from it. I couldn’t say no to such a tempting offer. I humbly accepted his request. We picked up the Special Dark as I love dark chocolate.  I didn’t reach home that I cut open that pack and had my first bite after such a long time. It felt great! Super great!

It still feels the same. It still makes me think that the world is as normal as ever. I get lost in my dream world and wonder why everything is so nice. I love the way it melts in my mouth. Occasionally I even like to just bite the entire chocolate off instead of letting it take its own course in my mouth. Can’t resist the temptation you see! Well, with Hershey’s Meenakshi Karanth goes back into her world of Barbies, Pandas, Mickey Mouse, Tom & Jerry! That world is great. It’s peaceful, happy and naive. No troubles haunt me there. To me, it’s togetherness, childhood, innocence, happiness, love, sharing, contentment and for some strange reason Christmas!

Wonder what a magician the maker of Hershey’s would have been. His craft continues to make so many people happy. His spell still lives and spreads joy! What an amazing gift to give to mankind. And yes, wrapping this up in my personal golden foil, is my declaration, Mr. Hershey, I love you and you make me ‘sufer haffy’.

Hershey’s Kisses, my all time favourite!