When Sudha Murthy passes a horegallu in the village she remembers especially two people. One is her grandfather and the other is her colleague Ratna. A horegallu is a stone bench. It helps tired persons to sit down and rest for sometime so that they can regain their energy. Sudha’s grandfather was a retired school teacher. He would spend hours sitting under the banyan tree, on the horegallu there, talking to those resting there. Most of them told him their troubles and pains. He could hardly have done anything to solve their problems. But by patiently listening to them he was relieving them to a great extent. He was a horegallu on which the tired people unburdened their burdens.
Sudha met Ratna when she went to work in Mumbai. Ratna was her colleague. She was a middle aged senior clerk and she always smiled. Every day during lunch hour she would sit with some person in a room and chat with him/her. Sudha often wondered what they talked about. One day she asked Ratna what they discussed. Ratna told her that the persons with whom she talked shared their troubles with her. Sudha then asked Ratna how by listening to one person, she could solve his problems. Ratna said God has given us two years to listen. Even if we can’t solve problems for people, we can help them by listening to them. A troubled person feels relieved when he tells a sympathetic listener about his troubles. Sudha knew Ratna was right. So she wishes there were more horegallus like her grandfather and Ratna. It would make the world a better place to live in.
