Telling THEM

So my diabetes has shaped a substantial part of the person I am today. It was during the "telling them" phase that I became a keen observer of the emotions and reactions of people.

THEM of course refers to the mere mortals who are happily worrying about house mortgages or property conflicts with brothers, which apparently are really serious problems.

Diabetes is often referred to as sugar, and since I didn't even know this fact for sure and actually thought I had diabetes AND sugar both (Dear God, why must it all happen to me), the sole reason why my parents took me along was the desperate necessity to keep me within grab-and-put-glucose-in-mouth distance.
What I am trying to say is that I was the third person in all conversations about me.

We (and I obviously mean my Mum and Dad) only told people who we thought must absolutely necessarily be told. So we went to school to talk to the principal and teachers and then went to my BESTEST friend's house and talked to her parents and gave her, what I am sure was her first lesson in emergency medical treatment.

I saw the reactions and expressions to this tragic news, and since it is always bloody boring to sit in adult conversations, I would imagine the things that they would be saying in THEIR minds.

Some excerpts of this rather interesting activity have been mentioned under

(Note: The reactions are not a work of fiction. The dialogues may not be a work of fiction either, though who can tell.)


"Our daughter was diagnosed with diabetes in these summer holidays. She will have to take insulin thrice a day and check her blood sugar every now and then. She will have to eat a snack before her games class and will have to carry glucose with her at all times and if her blood sugar drops, she will have to be administered a spoonful of this or anything sweet. But we are sure you can see she will be a normal child in every way."


Principal: Looks into his diary "Hold on for a minute, normal? Shweta? Is that a positive side-effect of this insu-whattzisname? Isn't this the same kid about whom all teachers say... anyways, FOCUS."

Teacher: Nods head sympathetically Hmmm... sad but no real tragedy really. The girl looks as good as stoned in class most of the time anyways. I wonder if I should let her play the tree part in the class drama. She has to sway at one point and it may drop her sugar.

Best friend's Mom: Looks over at her daughter Thank god it wasn't my girl. Poor Mrs. Kakkar. I must tell my daughter to stay away from Shweta. What if she catches the bloody thing?

Looks at the plates served on the coffee table Hmmm... chocolate biscuits and potato cutlets. Not good. Will have to bring up the matter of low-fat snacks at the next ladies club meeting.

Best Friend: BUZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ






---- STATIC ----

Me: Dear God, why did I chose a best friend that made me look smart? Now I am goner if my sugar drops.