"Opting to live an independent life in a distant land turned out to be one of the most rewarding and important decisions I ever made on my own," says Priyanka Ahluwalia, an Indian expatriate, of her two-year stay in Kabul, Afghanistan. The 30-year-old who was till recently working for a company in Dubai and is now in India, says that the experience made her more confident and gave her a highly positive outlook on life.
Raised in New Delhi, Priyanka along with her two siblings enjoyed a comfortable lifestyle. Ater completing her schooling and pursuing a BA in Humanities, she secured a comfortable job with a renowned five-star hotel in India. But she was dissatisfied – she wanted to do something on her own.
Everything changed when she received a call from a headhunter, offering her the opportunity to work as part of a pre-opening team for the first five-star hotel in Afghanistan. That was in 2004. "There was nothing really lucrative about the offer," she says.
"But I thought that a change of surroundings could help make a difference in my outlook on life, and hopefully give me the independence I yearned for," she explains.
Despite growing concerns and tremendous opposition from her parents and relatives who were concerned about her living alone in a war-torn part of the world, Priyanka knew that this was her chance.
After a series of interviews and other visa formalities, the day finally dawned. As the plane descended into Kabul, Priyanka had mixed feelings: had she taken the right decision? What if she was wrong all along?
Luckily, the weeks that followed only reinforced her decision and this made her feel more confident than ever before. She loved the country and was fascinated by the cultural diversity.
While Priyanka was at peace and enjoying the beauty of the foreign land, her parents had to face plenty of repercussions. They were bombarded by constant pressure from relatives and friends who accused them of not being able to restrict her decision to travel to such a distant land.
Priyanka's parents were now making frantic calls to their daughter begging her to return. Priyanka knew that only time would calm them down and continued to assure them that everything was fine.
On the work front, she couldn't have asked for anything better. The hotel she was working for made staff welfare a top priority. Apart from providing staff with furnished accommodation and tasty ethnic food, the hotel also showed enormous concern for their well-being.
Priyanka could also travel to her home country every six months. With the passage of time, constant visits home reassured her parents and relatives that she was in safe hands and responsible enough to make decisions on her own.
Having been restricted to the confines of Delhi, Kabul was different to any other place she had seen in her life. Adapting to the cultural diversity and traditional customs of the region was quite an experience for her.
"As soon as I arrived, I had to wear the headscarf. This gave me a sense of belonging and the confidence in mingling with the local women," she says. "To understand and speak Dari, the local language, was quite a challenge initially," says Priyanka, but she managed to grasp the local dialect eventually.
As sales manager for a group of hotels in Kabul, Priyanka's job was quite demanding yet very exciting. Due to a shortage of staff, she now had the opportunity to venture into different fields like training and recruiting staff for various positions within the hotel.
Over time, Priyanka's horizons broadened more than ever before. "It was a great experience to train staff," says Priyanka. Apart from the language barrier, many of the Afghans were not exposed to the outside world.
And that's what truly fascinated her. Most of them did not know the concept of luxury hotels and it took her quite a while to help train, educate and assign them work. Working with them day in and day out had become a moving experience, something she would never have dreamed of.
"Given an opportunity, I would love to go back to Kabul," she says. "Apart from having fond memories, that place has definitely left a mark on me. It has taught me to have a positive outlook on life and made me realise that destiny belongs to those with the vision to follow their dreams and the courage to follow their heart."
