It's the Small Things | Language

Day after day I step into the world,
being a witness to life passing by
moments, some dramatic, some mundane,
landscapes, some mundane, some dramatic
each one of them as exquisite.

At sunset, as I sat on a bench in front of a lake,
a grandmother passed by
with a toddler in her arms.
She was talking,
and the toddler responded to her
excitedly tapping on her shoulders.
How enchanting is this language
they have made with each other.

Later,
a young horseman passed by,
guiding his gorgeous white horse gently towards the stable
the language of guiding touch between the horseman and his horse.

As I was leaving, an old couple walked ahead of me in silence
together

How sublime it is
to birth a language

Language where lovers speak
by gazing in each other’s eyes,
and friends chat
through looks and gestures.

These languages not bound
by theory.

Mahima Tagore is an interdisciplinary filmmaker and artist from New Delhi. Her work is deeply rooted in the textures of everyday life, where beauty, displacement, resistance, and memory intersect.

We’ve grown up hearing that “it’s the small things” that matter. That’s true, of course, but it’s also not – there are Big Things that we know matter, and that we shouldn’t take our eyes, minds or hearts off of. As journalists, we spend most of our time looking at those Big Things, trying to understand them, break them down, and bring them to you.

And now we’re looking to you to also think about the small things – the joy that comes from a strangers’ kindness, incidents that leave you feeling warm, an unexpected conversation that made you happy, finding spaces of solidarity. Write to us about your small things at thewiresmallthings@gmail.com in 800 words or less, and we will publish selected submissions. We look forward to reading about your experiences, because even small things can bring big joys.

Read the series here.

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