Source: Google Images
Yes, there are people other than freedom fighters who die for their nation. Yes, there are people who are selfless and keep themselves first always. Yes, there are people who think logically even in existential crises. Yes, there are people like Neerja Bhanot.
Who was Neerja Bhanot?
Neerja Bhanot was a flight attendant born on 7th September 1963, who was a citizen of Chandigarh, She was the daughter of Harish and Rama Bhanot. She was also the sister of 2 brothers. She was just a normal citizen like us whose motive was to work for her family and serve her passengers. She was a huge fan of the Bollywood actor Rajesh Khanna and lived her life cherishing all those dialogues of him.
Source: Google Images
Early Life of Neerja
Neerja was a courageous woman who studied in Chandigarh initially and later she went to Mumbai to make her career in Modeling. She worked with major high-end brands. Her father was a Journalist in the Hindustan times.
At the age of 19, she married a Marine engineer and moved out to the UAE. But later after 2 months of molestation and taunts, she decided to leave her husband and came back. Later she decided to be a flight attendant.
What Happened in the Flight?
All of this happened on 5th September 1986. The flight was supposed to land in the United States and depart from Mumbai, having 2 layovers at Karachi and Frankfurt. Neerja was appointed as the senior flight purser of the Pan-Am 73 flight carrying 380 passengers and 13 crew members. The Pan-Am flight was an American-based airline.
During the initial hours of the flight, everything was worthy and appreciable, the flight was however stopped for a layover at Karachi. The flight was hijacked by 4 Palestinian men, who belonged to the Abu Nidal Organization, which was earlier called the Palestinian nationalist militant group, and was later called the terrorist group.
The terrorists wanted to fly to Cyprus, a country on the east of the Mediterranean sea to release their fellow members who were in prison. Their main target was the Americans and Indian-based Americans who were travelling in that aircraft. During The initial hours of the hijacking, they killed an Indian-based American.
They later asked the crew members to collect the passports of all the passengers on the flight. When Neerja knew they were attacking the Americans, She wisely and silently signalled the Americans to put down the passports under their seats and not to give them to the crew members.
She guided all the crew members to provide meals to all the passengers even in the hours of hijacking and patiently served the meal to all the passengers. Along with the passengers, even the crew members were fearful of the situation that they were in. Neerja faced all the terrorists with utmost confidence and answered back very wisely.
After 16 hours of hijacking the terrorists burst their hopes and started firing inside the aircraft, Neerja, being the seniormost crew member, opened the emergency gates and evacuated all the passengers out of the aircraft with her selfless nature. When the terrorist saw her doing so, they held her hair and tortured her for doing so.
Later when she was trying to evacuate 3 American children, the terrorist tried to shoot them but Neerja saved the three of them by acting as a shield, irrespective of her life, she saved the lives of 3. Thus, she was assassinated and declared dead. People in the flight regarded Neerja as the “epitome of courage”.
Later, one of the children she saved, became a captain and stated Neerja as his inspiration. Her effort to save all the passengers at the risk of her life is commendable, the world needs more people like her.
Recognition and Awards in the Name of Neerja
She received the posthumous “Ashok Chakra Award”, the highest gallantry award for her bravery. She became the youngest and the first woman to receive the award. A documentary film was also released in 2016 showcasing her bravery during the hijacking, which was directed by Ram Madhavani. Her brother Anees Bhanot wrote a book “The smile of Courage”, where he penned the bravery of her sister. In 2004, the Indian Postal service released a stamped cover to commemorate her.
Image Source: Wikipedia
Her act of kindness to her passengers will always be remembered by the world. The film Neerja, starring Sonam Kapoor, portrayed Neerja saving the lives of 100’s of passengers. The film showed her as the lifeline of her family where everybody called her “Lado ''.
The film also portrayed a conversation between her and her mother, where she asked her mother-” what to do if the plane gets hijacked”, to which her mother replied- “just run away from there”, her reply was- "If there would be mothers like you, then what would happen to our country, I’ll choose to die than to run away.”
Written by: Khushbu Arora
Edited by: Nidhi Jha
0 Comments