At the age of 22 years, Neerja Bhanot is the youngest recipient of Ashoka Chakra

Light a candle for this great Indian hero

The article is about a flight attendant. You may ask why is she featuring in “Great Indian Heroes”. Well, let me quickly share few reasons.

Youngest recipient of Ashoka Chakra Award(India’s highest gallantry award for bravery in the face of the enemy during peace time)
In 2004, the Indian Postal Service released a stamp commemorating her
In Mumbai’s Ghatkopar (East) suburb, a square called Neerja Bhanot Chowk was inaugurated by Amitabh Bachchan
Sonam Kapoor is starring in a Bollywood movie which documents her story.
Last but not the least, she lived for just 22 years. (7 September 1963 to 5 September 1986)

It is my honour to write this article on a 22-year-old who sacrificed her life in the face of terror to save 359 innocent ones.

What seemed to be a routine day for Pan Am Flight 73, (Mumbai to New York) turned out into a terror situation where most of us would be paralyzed with fear.

The flight had a stopover at Jinnah International Airport in Karachi, where 4 heavily armed terrorists posing as security guards entered the aircraft and took control of it.

Bhanot, the senior flight attendant was aboard and immediately alerted the cockpit crew about the hijack. The plane was on the tarmac which allowed the three-member American cockpit crew of pilot, co-pilot and the flight engineer to flee from the aircraft.

Bhanot also could have escaped but she chose not to. Being the senior-most cabin crew member on board, she took charge.

One of the terrorists ordered the flight crew to collect the passports of all Americans in the aircraft. She quickly realized that their motive was to slay all Americans on board. She hid their passports and even discarded few down the rubbish chute.

After 17 hours of keeping the passengers as hostages, the hijackers opened fire and set off explosives. Neerja opened the emergency door and helped a number of passengers’ escape. This time also, she could have escaped by being the first one to jump out. But no, the brave lady decided not to.

She was shot while shielding three children from a hail of bullets.

She was just 25 hours aways from celebrating her 23^rd birthday but it was not to be. This Chandigarh born girl made each and every sensible human being proud of her. She is acclaimed internationally as the “heroine of the hijack”.

Sacred heart senior secondary school, Chandigarh, Bombay Scottish school and St Xavier’s college Mumbai would be indeed very proud of their alumna. You can see the stamp released in her honor by India Postal Services.