Little did we imagine that Saturday evening would be one of the strangest evenings ever in my life.

I was home doing my usual Lady-in-waiting act, this time waiting for Anna Shetty to give us our flu shots.

Ms. Papaya was playing in the garden below with her friend. The friend’s mum and Prima Donna were sitting around keeping an eye on the kids.

Suddenly, the two girls came up to them complaining of a little boy throwing his weight around. Not only was he very vocal but scared them by widening his mouth from ear to ear.

The women followed their girls to where the boy was and realised that he was not from the building. When asked where his mother or attendant was, the little chap took off like a rocket and ran down the driveway. Luckily he stopped and came back up. He was equally lucky that no cars or scooters were around to knock him down.

By then, the girls knew that something was wrong and began asking him questions. In the meanwhile I joined them because Prima Donna had spoken to Anna Shetty about being late for her ‘flu shot because of a lost little boy.

The boy was well dressed and was very coherent. He spoke perfect English with just a tiny hint of a little boy lisp.

He told us that he lived at GT Hospital which was quite a long way away and that he studied at GD Somani school and that he moved there because his earlier school had closed down.

I asked him what he was doing so far away from home and he replied that he had come to a Chess Lesson further down our road.

By this time, he was getting frazzled and refused to come home with us. It was getting dark, and our little girls were also getting quite anxious and worried. So I took them home and distracted them with some pizza, leaving Prima Donna and her friend, and the gaggle of watchmen who had gathered around to decide what to do with him.

It was getting dark and the boy was quite adamant about not going anywhere with anyone. Should we call the police? Or should we put the boy in a taxi and drive up to GT Hospital and allow him to recognise his house?

The police were dismissed because who knew what would happen to the boy then? And he said he did not want to get into anyone’s car.

Just as the watchman was going off to get the local policeman, a young man came up the driveway. It had been an hour since the boy ran away from his mother, who was admonishing him for wetting his pants. Since then the father had walked into every building looking for his son and was relieved to finally find him safe but frightened.

We were relieved too.

How could the mother be so careless? If she knew that her little boy was a little rocket, she should have kept some identification in his pocket at all times – at least a phone number.

One thing is for sure: the father must have given the boy and his mother a mouthful for being so careless, and I’m sure the boy will never run off again.

Ciao

• How was the mother walking with her child on a busy main road without holding his hand?
• How did she not see where her boy ran?