Born in Pakistan, stand-up comic and writer Amna Bakhtiar has made an incredible leap. Along her journey from the busy streets of Naarm (Melbourne) to the breathtaking beauty of Mparntwe Alice Springs. After 15 years of cold winters, corporate culture, and a disastrous first marriage, she thought it was time to shake things up. She returned to the Australian outback for a chance to begin again. This move was a radical departure for her. It also required her to face harder truths—of privilege, of her own sense of belonging.
Upon her arrival in Alice Springs, Bakhtiar found herself grappling with uncomfortable truths about the realities faced by Indigenous Australians. What she witnessed was segregation, structural inequalities, and intergenerational trauma that influenced the community. This stark contrast to her previous life challenged her perspective and compelled her to engage with these complex social issues.
Bakhtiar’s ties to Alice Springs began long before she got there. It started with a school-assigned novel that changed the trajectory of her life, which she read in eighth grade while living in Peshawar, Pakistan. She had always dreamed of visiting this beautiful, crazy, churning, culturally-rich jewel of the Arctic, and now she was getting the chance to live there.
She chronicles her journeys and calls living the first year in Alice Springs a magical experience. That year imbued her with a bravery that she never realized she had. She said the areas that people are most afraid of, those are often the spaces that you really need to inhabit. Her first fears eventually gave way to deep, personal change.
On the search for comedians In Alice Springs, Bakhtiar found a dynamic Aboriginal and Torres Strait comedy scene. From first attending a monthly open mic night featuring five local comics, she became instantly hooked on the intimacy and fun of performing. She refers to stand-up as her “drug,” her “treat.” She confesses that, once she started, she got “addicted” to the high of presenting her material to a crowd. Her creativity was born with this new discovery. Beyond that, it helped her establish lasting friendships with other members of the small community.
Even with this caution from her new community, Bakhtiar remained focused. She would frequently hear reactions such as, “Why would you want to move there?” and “There’s nothing to do!” but these only added to her motivation. Going around town, she felt physically liberated in Alice Springs, enjoying the freedom from self-censorship and the strictures of city-dwelling that allowed her to be herself.
Bakhtiar’s year in Alice Springs was made uniquely challenging. She went through an intense emotional roller-coaster and went on a number of deep meditation retreats to help her begin to make sense of her painful experience. Even so, she says her decision to move here — to this idyllic but isolated Washington County town — is the best decision in her life.
Bakhtiar’s journey is a model for us all, and a testament that true personal growth lies in venturing beyond the things we know and do well. Through her own journey she implores us to acknowledge our privilege, understand hard truths, and experience true radical transformation both individually and collectively.
