10000 Copies + God's Anger = Helpless Me

I was in 6th class (around 12 years) when this incident happened. 

One day my new neighbour "Rajamma" invited me home. I went to her house after my playtime. She offered some snacks along with a letter to read. 
It was a pamphlet printed in Kannada on both sides. It had a picture of Lord Shiva on top. I started reading thinking it must be something related to God. There were few conditions mentioned one of which was "The reader should read the letter completely without any pauses. "

The first page described God. I don't remember the exact content but was just glorification of God and his heroic deeds.

As I turned the page over I saw "Whoever reads this message should make 10,000 copies and distribute it to make people aware of God's Glory. If the reader fail to do so they will have to face God's anger in all possible ways" 

There were incidents given to make the reader the understand what might go wrong if they fail to distribute 10,000 copies. One incident goes like this: 
A lady reads the message and ignores it. Her husband passes away after a snake bite and her children died because of an accident while they were returning home after school.  She lost her entire family as she ignored the message.

The letter ended stating " Don't ignore this message. 10,00 copies should be distributed within 7 days starting from the day the message was read in order to escape from God's anger" 

I started sweating with fear and I was really furious on Rajamma for making me read such message. But I  returned home without expressing it. I thought of sharing it with mom but then she was very strict and would scold me for reading such message. 

Next day, I narrated the whole incident to one of best friends Roopa. She suggested me not to ignore it as it could potentially harm my entire family. I was so clueless.

I met Rajamma in the evening to discuss the same. 

I told her "You made me read such message. Because of you I am very disturbed and clueless. How would I make 10,000 copies? I can't sit and write the message myself. It would take ages for me to complete."

Rajamma said "Don't worry. As you're young, you can join me. Instead of you making 10,000 copies, we both will make 5000 copies each and distribute."

By then she got in touch with the printing press and enquired about the cost and all necessary stuffs. She convinced me to do pay for 150 INR for 5k copies and she would take the responsibility of getting them printed and would give the copies me to within 3 days. She asked me to pay the money within 2 days.

I knew she was taking advantage of me. I agreed as did not find any better ways of getting 10,000 copies in such a short time. All I had as savings was just 100 rupees. I gave it to her and told her I was short of 50 bucks and she was ready to lend the money to me.

Day by day the fear was increasing exponentially. I used to discuss this with my school friends at break times. One of my friends agreed to come with me to distribute the copies.

After two days:

Rajamma gave me 5000 copies in the evening. I did hide the bundle in the parking lot and went to my friend on my cycle. She told me as it is already late it would be difficult to distribute so we better start from tomorrow. I left her house with disappointment. All I wanted was just finish distributing those in order to save my family from God's anger.

Following day, I informed my mom  that I am going to my friends house for her birthday party and  I'll be little late. I went to my friend with those copies and asked her take me to some place where nobody can recognise me because of the fear that If they recognise me they would inform my parents. We went to a street behind our school and started distributing pamphlets. I was feeling shy, awkward, inferior and what not. We spent almost 4 hours to distribute just 300 copies and returned home. I was thinking whole night without any sleep how I would able to distribute remaining 4700 copies in just two days.

Day 6:

I went alone to distribute the copies to the same street as my friend refused to accompany me. I could hardly give away 10 copies after spending hours. People refused to take it and few were ignoring me. 

In the meanwhile, I saw an old man passing by. I ran towards him and gave the pamphlet.  He asked me what the letter is all about? with a gentle smile. I replied It is about God. I took it, read it and returned it to me saying "You better keep it with you. I don't need it."  After listening to him I could not control my tears I told him " Please take this. I have another 4700 copies to be distributed within a day. I am spending all my time here after school to save my family from God's anger."

I guess he understood my fear about God and loosing family. He said "Dear child, Don't cry.It is a trap made by few individuals to make profit through printing, photocopying etc. God is the greatest power and source of every happenings in the world. God is very kind and won't harm your family. He is not so stupid to torture you to pass his glory on to others. God is so powerful that when he thinks he need to pass on a message he himself will arrive on earth. Wipe your tears and go home. God bless you"

I felt so relaxed and happy after listening to everything he said. I threw rest of the copies to the big drainage near by and returned home. Caught up with some very good sleep that night.

Day 7:

I saw Rajamma on the way back home from school, on the street distributing pamphlets with lot of fear, anxiety as it was the last day. She saw me and called my name. 

I didn't feel like turning back as I lost my savings, peace of mind because of her. She took advantage of my innocence. For any child, family is all they know and need. How could she be so mean to me? thought just flashed my mind.
but I remembered the old man and his words.  I thanked him all my heart.

I Continued walking..

The Sun was about set. The birds were flying back their nests. So did I..!! :)