Guilty of kidnapping a cute child - for a day

@LadyDuck That's different. It reminds me Indiana Jones telling to his father in a movie that he never took care of him. The father responded something like "It is because you left at 18 when you started to become interesting". I can adopt a 20 years old, but taking care of a baby/toddler/kid, NO !

I approve that. I can take care of a cat or a dog during a few days but not of a pet human, I have never had a vocation for baby sitting or parenting. Parents have to assume their progeny.

@topffer I fully agree with you. I can take care of Willy, the cat of my neighbors, but I would never take care of a human pet. We took care of our nice, but she was already in her 20s, she needed our help to start her career, but she never lived with us.

Unfortunately...the guy was so much fun...to day when we talk about him, it is with awe about him being unique child. He is now settled in the US. That is the boy.

@vandana7 This is him? Are you still able to communicate with him?

@mlgen1037 No...as I said, I went along with family friend. I met him as an adult though, some 4 odd years ago.

No back then there were no cell phones in our country. Actually I am speaking of 1987. The phones were there but perhaps mother thought whatever it was has been resolved since the maid did not call up again. So she might have called, and then when nobody lifted, thought the child and maid were outside playing, left it at that. She never knew that we had taken away her child. We were visiting casually - the person who came along with me, was the advocate's father's distant cousin's daughter. It was actually some invitation that we had to give. Yeah..that leaves us with some guilt right. My prince charming he was very fond of chasing me. And one fine day, he slipped and hurt his cheek. For almost a week ten days I hid from his mother. I felt so guilty about it.

@vandana7 Sounds like a big communication problem and I would hope everyone kind of knew they were at fault, but hard to be logical when worried about your pride and joy. Yeah, I hear you, still do not beleive in Karma but to this day, I think that is why women hate me and I hid for at least 2 weeks from her or I would get the stare down, do not even look at my son like you want to play and break him like he is a doll or something. Boy when they say women have the evil eye. They sure do.

But the maid was worked up. Hers was also a medical emergency or so she said. Poor she, she returned in time. Was quite nervous actually when we handed over the baby. Relieved. Must have been new maid...she was young. She must have thought we knew the family real well. LOL

I fail to recall what was the medical emergency that prompted the maid to take that risk. But that parents had not granted permission in itself means something to be scared of. The maid let us take the kid, and she herself locked the door, and left in a hurry. We were a bit surprised, but he was such a bundle of joy. We had agreed to bring him back by 4 pm. But around four we decided to go for an outing. There he was playing with balloons, and all passers bye were also fascinated with the kid...he even released a fountain...he was under an year. By the time we reached back, it was 9 pm. The parents had not returned. Nor called which is strange. If I had a kid that young, I would be calling four to five times in a day at least.

@responsiveme No..they did not know me. But not calling up maid was rather strange. To be fair, maid did call the mother, but mother was in theater. So the call was not passed on. After that, may be she called, but the maid may not have been around and the lady may have presumed all is well, and she has taken the child to the tot lot..it is a big complex. But 9 pm! The maid was of course nervous as hell...because any moment madam would drop in and she would not know what to say because she did not know us. That was the first time she'd seen us. I have had another case like that. We were just walking in some colony, and we saw an interesting construction. We walked inside the gate, and the girl there must have been around 10 or so, invited us in, gave us water, and showed us the entire house...because we said it was a nice construction, new construction. She asked us where we stay. I told her just two lanes behind. She presumed I had a home, though I only had a plot there. After seeing their plan and layout, just before leaving I told the little girl, do not entertain strangers EVER. Definitely do not allow them inside your gate, leave alone house, even if they are ladies. My aunts who were with me, endorsed that. The girl was alone and it is oh so risky to leave a child like that. More so nowadays.

@vandana7 very very strange..Not calling uo

Why is it that we never get to keep the ones we like? LOL

Yes, at least in India. It was 1987.

@vandana7 true.

Ha ha...now ...sometimes I do feel bad ... I mean had we not gone and returned the child, what would the parents have done...they would have been devastated losing such a cute and "no crying" baby.

Ah he was terrifically cute child. We took him to a place around evening outing..he was so excited and many people who came there were charmed by him. Real celebrity. LOL. Not once did he cry...even before sleeping. To day we keep talking about him being unique.

@topffer I met him as an adult. :) He is still cool. :)

@vandana7 A kidnapper should not be emotional, it was probably because he was crying during all the night.

As I think of it, I now realize why it must have happened. The maid spoke local language, whereas the family speaks different language. She must have been fairly new to the job. Since the language we were conversing seemed to be same as her employers, and the lady I accompanied was in a way behaving as if she knew the place, the maid presumed we were frequent visitors and family. Her need was obviously her medical emergency. She couldn't possibly take the child with her, and this seemed the best option. Moreover, she did try to inform her employer but the lady was in operation theater. Since they return late, the maid thought if we managed the child till 4 pm she would be fine. But why 4 pm? She could have asked us to inform the family. Hmmm something to think about considering that she had the keys.

I was quite surprised too that they did not bother inquiring about him the whole day at that age...what less than an year. Normally, mothers are concerned, will call up and check whether the baby is fed or sleeping. That said, I remember my landlord's kids were also with us many times. They too did not bother if their children were not to be seen, and presumed the child was playing with me.

@Shiva49 Honestly that is...not every maid is trustworthy.

@vandana7 They have to be selective with people when it comes to children. Known people are okay but now parents are overly concerned and I think it is justified too. I feel concerned when they leave their children under the care of maids/helpers as that is inviting trouble - siva

Nah...we knew we had to go and yet we were so fascinated with the baby. We took him out to what we call tank bund here, and there too he was like most people wanted to play with him - total strangers. We were not in mood to return him - he was such fun. He released the fountain and was grinning to glory.

Oh no ..he did not...and we did meet up when he was a grown up.

Lucky his folks were not home. Had they been, it could have been quite a problem. LOL

Just don't get caught.

@vandana7 Lol