M. Amala Durga hails from Ramanathapuram, Tamil Nadu, and currently resides in Chennai with her husband, son, and parents. A professional in the IT industry, she finds her true creative expression in poetry, writing with the intent to spread positivity and touch hearts through her words.
Her journey as a poet began in December 2024, when a close circle of ten friends recognized the budding writer within her. Inspired by a fleeting moment with a butterfly and later deeply moved by the legacy of Emily Dickinson, Amala discovered poetry as both a calling and a spiritual practice.
She believes that nature holds profound wisdom and that every aspect of daily life can reflect a piece of it. Through her poetry, she captures her conversations with nature and imagination, offering readers not just verses but a sense of healing and hope.
To Amala, writing is a sacred act of self-love, a path to inner peace, and a means of uplifting others. She draws immense strength from her supportive family and cherishes the magical memories of her childhood, forever holding her grandparents close in spirit.
She shares her poetry and reflections on medium: https://medium.com/@amlu.nagarajan, inviting readers into her world with sincerity and gratitude.
Q: I noticed that you are inspired by Emily Dickson, can you tell why she has such a profound impact on your life?
Emily Dickinson, the greatest poet of her century. What else can be a great reason to get inspired by her. She is the greatest soul whom I got inspired just by knowing about her, even before I started to read her poems. Her passion is her strength. Being a woman, she faced struggles and barriers for choosing to write, during her time. If she had missed to stand for herself, there won’t be many such beautiful poems now.
Her passion became a reason for her to live for the rest of her life and till her last breath she continued on that. The transformation she had gone through, from a state of un-acceptance to hope & passion she developed over the period, to deliver around 1800 poems is something I am wondering about. There is a famous quote, “You have the right to perform your duty, but not to the fruit. “ Her Poems are great evidence for that. During her lifetime, out of 1800 only very few poems of her got published. But she continued her journey on Poetry. She never opted out of poetry. But then, she left her legacy to the world, as a great reference. And now we celebrate her for what she did in the silence. She is a woman of self-love and strength, she is like a butterfly, gracefully strong. She seems to be silent but her world of imagination is huge and her connect with the nature is something so real.
I always think, during her lifetime, she should have published and should had been honoured with all highest Poetry awards as she deserves the best of best for contributing to the literature, making a strong foundation for Poetry to let the world know – what someone can make out of silence. Success is counted Sweetest. – I sense her. And I would love to look upto her for the strength, compassion, passion and sincerity, consistency and what not.. She gives life to everything she observes. And it is very deep and spiritual.
Q: Being an IT professional, what led you to explore poetry?
I work in IT and am a person, so dedicated at work and have been following the regular lifestyle – balancing between work and family and switching back to the same routine over and over again in the past years. Of course, It was good, life was good enough to celebrate for many reasons. I always feel blessed and used to express gratitude for the magical childhood I have experienced, a beautiful and a supportive family I have got, but still
I always used to feel a state of incompletion and I haven’t taken a chance to sort that out. In a divine timing, I have taken a self-development program, by Dec 2024 where I met 10 beautiful souls who uplifted me. I loved being in the tribe where my writing was celebrated which gradually ended up as beautiful poems, during my leadership. Since then, I started writing Poems, I started seeing a beautiful version of myself and I felt a sense of soul satisfaction when I express through my poems. With Poetry you can communicate with an Ant, a Butterfly can send you messages and You can also walk over the clouds and you can dwell into your world of imagination and express them as beautiful art.
An Art needs to be celebrated which is like celebrating your own self. Poems - they are my Identity and I am in love with myself for this new version. And, my first poem- ‘The Gratitude’, was composed on Dec 7 2024 after experiencing a fleeting moment with a butterfly in a miraculous dawn. I penned my second poem - A letter from the Butterfly, since I wanted to dedicate something to that little creature; On Reading that, one of my friends referred me to read Hope Is A Thing With Feathers by Emily Dickinson and that's when I searched about Emily Dickinson and read and understood about her greatness in poetry. I then realised that poetry is a soulful art and that needs to shared and read with the fellow beings on this planet.
To add on, writing is not completely new to me. When I look back, I do love to express mostly through writing, rather than speaking. I feel writing is so comfortable for me. And it’s a best way of expressing myself. I can recollect, that my Very first and only Poem happened during my schooling; in my class 11 on a joyful moment, and I got a chance to publish in a magazine. But it started and ended there. Growing with time I had to purse my studies in Engineering and the track changed, towards IT. And I didn’t make any time for analysing or identifying myself. Now I find myself happier and I feel complete that I have identified my Purpose, when I write. As my loved ones say, writing is a spiritual activity. And I express my heartfelt gratitude to the Universe for putting me in this place.
Q: Do you have an ambition of spreading positivity in this world?
Positivity is something I have gained from my family. I am blessed that I have grown up in an environment full of love and compassion and I continue to live my life in the same way. Also, I want to reveal there are 10 beautiful souls behind my journey in to poetry.
There was an activity in my tribe to share about the kindness that I experienced on a particular day and I was wondering what would I write. That’s when the Universe has sent me a butterfly and a gave me greater shift in my writing.
When I shared my poem, people found it so healing and helpful with rush of emotions in their heart. Each one in the tribe uplifted me in a unique way and so I call them as Angels.
They uplifted me and unmasked my identity; by giving honest reviews and comments on my Poems. After attaining a soulful happiness, I felt it’s my duty to share and spread the positive vibes that I have experienced, to the rest of the world. If it's really optimistic, why should I keep it only in my notepad, rather I can take a chance of spreading the positive vibes and help people.
In this digital world, I decided I want to make an Optimistic platform and I believe the Universe will take it to the needy ones and will heal or help or encourage them at the right time. And by Jan 1 2025, I am back to social media and I logged my Poems in an interesting way. Now my favourite pass time is to listen and dwell into my Poems.
I would love to convey to every common human like me, when they get a chance of realizing their inner potential, or when they unlock their Passion, kindly don’t skip the chance. Because, the joy you experience after identifying Your own self and working towards your passion will be a soulful journey. The world needs more of Positivity and You can be a part of spreading it.
THE BOOK
Amala has been published in the anthology 'Hear Me First'. Curated by Delhi Poetry Slam as part of The Writer's Launchpad, an online workshop series for a select group of contemporary Indian poets. Get your copy!
Connect with the poet on Medium
A Thank You Note:
Thank You So much, all my Uncles and Aunts and my beloved cousins.
I am so happy to hear the wishes from you all and feeling so blessed that I have got such a beautiful family to encourage and motivate me.
Intention of my writing is to spread positivity through my Poems , this intention originated in me because I have gained all those positive vibes from our family since my very childhood.
And
I am happy to express my sincere and deepest gratitude to everyone of you in our family, through this act of expressing my optimistic thoughts.
Each and every summer vacation at Ammachi’s(Grandma’s) home is something so so close to heart and a fabulous memory to cherish in any phase of life. I have been grabbing all the good vibrations from Ammachi(GrandMa) and Thatha(GrandPa) and from all my Aunts and Uncles and from all my beloved cousins. Each one of you here showered love in a different way and we do share a special bond now and always.
Every summer vacation was helping us to grow better with our individuality.
All those meaningful stories by Thatha and Ammachi, and
The cousin things – music shows, Dance parties @ kottagai(lobby), the fun-celebrity interviews, and group discussions, the word games and late night creative thriller stories in the TV hall. We really had such a beautiful childhood and we always feel so special as a Person. Knowingly or unknowingly we upskilled ourselves in every Summer vacation by mingling with kids of unique skillset and exchanged skills. I feel we were uplifted at GrandMa’s home.
In Addition to this, we have more inspirations in our family to look upto.. and get motivated every now and then. We overcome struggles and bloom with strength during tough times.
Now our family is spread wide across the globe and and managing things with love and care with a great strength at heart and mind. I do wish we remain the same and share that special bond.
I would love to tell the world, a lovely childhood is more important for a child to succeed in the rest of her life…
And I will say our family is one good example and we are blessed.
Thank you all.
I cherish, the memories of Ammachi and Thatha at this moment who had ringed me over that landline phone , blessed and encouraged me when I wrote my first Tamil Poem during my class 11.
I remember Kavi Anni accompanied them and motivated me write more.
And that small Poem got published in a magazine through my school and Venkatesh Uncle was ensuring that it was published.
These memories are still fresh and with that I feel a great happiness and peace that I didn’t miss attaining my grandparents blessings. I do hear their Voice of blessings.
And more than everything I would love to thank my parents and hubby for the constant support and love.
I wish my words should travel a lot to reach and heal the readers and I count the real success when my Poems leave them optimistic at the final line. On that note, I always need your blessings and wishes to get more and more pure and strong, creative and clear thoughts.
Oh Amala, your poem is very fine.
I’m glad you found depth in the poem. Poetry is a great way to express emotions and connect with others. Congratulations you for continuous and successful journey of this new path.
Dear Amala, so happy to see your poems published! Wishing you continued inspiration and success in your poetic journey.
Congratulations Amala. I am very happy that your poems are published. Wish you all success in your Poetic Journey