The listeners

She looked at the empty couch before her. The emptiness was not something she was fond of. What she was fond of was stories. 

Her school mates had thought that she would grow up to become an author. But her college friends knew better. They had been confident that she would become a psychotherapist. 

At college, her favorite spot had been an old, weathered stone bench that lay at the farthest corner of her hostel garden. Every evening, she would walk to the bench with a steaming cup of cardamom tea and a 5 rupee packet of masala peanuts. She loved kissing her tea cup, acknowledging the return of birds to their shelters. She also loved the occasional company of her friends who sat beside her and narrated their personal issues as the sunlight slowly ebbed away. Some of them asked her for her suggestions. Some were content just opening up. "Thank you so much for listening patiently" they would all say before taking leave, for which she would respond with a warm smile. A smile very similar to the one that would spread across her face when she would gently say, "Tell me what's bothering you!" to her friends to help them open up. 

All her college friends knew very well this cardamom tea, masala peanuts, corner stone bench routine of hers. But very few knew about her another routine. One where, after her dinner, she slowly walked to the small Durga temple just outside her college and sat down before the deity to share her personal issues. But even with Durga, she never failed to say with a smile, "Tell me what's bothering you!". She knew that Durga also needed a companion to share her personal issues. Durga, after all, faced a very similar problem like her's. Every one was willing to open up his/her sorrows to Durga but no one really cared if Durga wanted to share her feelings. A sad fate shared by Gods and constantly smiling humans.

She looked at the empty couch before her. The emptiness was not something she was fond of. 
She locked the doors of her clinic and started walking towards the Ganesh temple that lay at the end of the street. After she entered the temple, she walked to the spot where lamps had been lit with less oil and more hope. She liked standing in their warmth. The lamps together shone the light of human faith. She then walked towards the deity and sat before him. 
In a matter of seconds, Ganesh excitedly started. "How long do I have to wait for you? Since morning, I had been wanting to tell you about this funny request a 35 year old woman came up with." Ganesh could not control his laughter. 
She knew how playful and jovial Ganesh was and readied herself for his story. Ganesh started narrating the funny request and as he was halfway through it, they were interrupted by a priest. 
"I see you visiting this temple every night and whenever you leave the temple, there is always a wide smile on your face. I have not seen it that often in other devotees. At times, I wonder if you are a special child to the Lord. Does he, by any chance, talk to you and answer your prayers specially?", the priest asked her mockingly. She thought for sometime and slowly nodded her head. "But what do you do worthier than the others?", he asked her, puzzled.
"I simply listen", she replied, looking at the smiling Ganesh.