Today, September 5th, I chose to bring you the story of another one of my heroes. I'm talking about Indian flight attendant Neerja Bhanot, whose heroic actions set an example of selflessness and bravery for millions of young women 35 years ago today.
Neerja Bhanot was born in Chandigarh, India, on September 7th, 1963, to Harish Bhanot, a journalist for the Hindustan Times, and housewife Rama. She had been the answer to her parents' long prayers for a daughter, after already having two sons, Akhil and Aneesh. The family then relocated to Mumbai, where Neerja graduated high school and began working as a model, eventually appearing in over 30 ads in Indian magazines and television.
At 20 years old, she had an ad-based arranged marriage and moved to Doha, Qatar. At first, the young couple genuinely seemed to get along and went forward with the wedding, but as soon as she joined him in the Gulf he turned her life into a living hell. Upset with the lack of a dowry, Neerja's husband began abusing her both physically and mentally, forcing her to quit modeling, depriving her of food and cutting her off financially to the point that she couldn't even make a phone call without having to ask for money. Two months into the sour marriage, Neerja had to return to Mumbai to complete a modeling assignment and used that opportunity to flee back home, followed by a letter listing a series of humilliating conditions for her return. In what might have been considered a scandal for Indian society, she moved back in with her parents and filed for divorce.
Though Neerja eventually resumed her modeling career and was extremely successful, she was still hungry for more. Just a few months later, the now defunct Pan American World Airways decided to have all-Indian cabin crews for their Mumbai-Frankfurt route, which was increasingly popular amongst businessmen, and began to hire. Neerja saw the opportunity, applied for the job and was accepted to go to Miami for training. Once there, after proving to be one of the best trainees and passing all tests with flying colors (no pun intended!), she was hand-picked with just a few others to travel to London to be trained for Purser.
On September 5th, 1986, Neerja was serving as Purser on Pan Am flight 73, a Boeing 747 which took off from Mumbai and was bound for New York via Karachi, Pakistan and, of course Frankfurt, (then) West Germany. Just as the new passengers were boarding in Karachi, four heavily armed men, two of them disguised as airport personnel, hijacked the plane, firing shots at the feet of the flight attendants while one of them grabbed Neerja by the neck, holding her hostage with a gun to her head. While this was taking place, Neerja was able to convey the hijack code to one of her colleagues who was hiding from the hijackers, so she could pass it on to the cockpit crew. Unbeknownst to the flight attendants, the protocol in place for this type of situation ordered the pilots and flight engineer to abandon the aircraft through a hatch at the front, in order to keep it from taking off. This became apparent when the hijackers forced the cockpit door open, only to find it empty. Without a cockpit crew, the plane became grounded with 300+ passengers on board, leaving a terrified Neerja in charge.
The hijackers were part of the Abu Nidal Organization (ANO), an unrecognized terrorist branch of the Palestinian Liberation Movement (PLO). The hijacking of flight 73 was in retaliation for Operation El Dorado Canyon, the U.S. bombing of Libya ordered by President Ronald Reagan earlier that same year.
Once the hijackers realized that they were not taking off, they began to demand a new pilot, holding a passenger at gunpoint. When an hour went by and no pilot came, they shot him dead, throwing his body onto the tarmac. Then, several hours into the hostage standoff, the terrorists demanded that the cabin crew collect all passports. Though her Arabic was not good, Neerja picked up from overhearing their conversations that they wanted to single out Americans passengers for execution, and decided she needed to act. Following her orders, and risking their own lives to protect their passengers, the crew began hiding all of the American passports throughout the cabin, some under seats and the rest down a garbage chute. At one point, after lots of pleading with the hijackers, the flight attendants were allowed to serve coffee and sandwiches. Neerja used that opportunity to rip a page off her emergency manual and hand it to the passenger sitting next to one of the emergency exits, instructing him to open it as soon as she gave him a signal.
After 17 long hours, during which the engine had been running, the plane's emergency power unit finally gave out and the cabin went dark, sending everyone into a panic. Thinking the blackout meant the military were entering the plane, the terrorists announced it was the end and began shooting indiscriminately. Amidst the chaos, Neerja shouted for the passenger sitting next to the emergency exit to open it, while she opened another and began pushing people down the slide. While she could have been the first one to jump out, she refused to leave until everyone else had been evacuated. Realizing that three unacompanied minors were still inside, Neerja relentlessly guided them to the exit, but as she was helping them down the slide they were caught in a hail of bullets, which hit her in the arm, abdomen and hip as she turned to shield the children. Just as she was about to jump out to safety, one of the terrorists caught her by her hair and shot her point blank in the back of the neck.
Once the evacuation had been completed, the cabin crew reunited on the tarmac and soon realized their commander was missing, so two of them went back inside the aircraft and found Neerja bleeding profusely at her post of duty. After being helped down the slide, she was able to walk to an ambulance with minimal assistance, but before she could get any medical attention Neerja died from her injuries. She was just two days shy of her 23rd birthday.
But her story doesn't end there. The following year, Neerja was posthumously awarded with the Ashok Chakra, the Indian government's highest recognition for bravery in peacetime, being the youngest and only female recipient so far. She also received the Tamgha-e-Pakistan medal in Pakistan, as well as the Flight Safety Foundation Heroism Award in the United States. More recently, in 2016, biographical film "Neerja" was released to widespread critical acclaim, with Sonam Kapoor in the leading role. This is by far one of my favorite movies of all time.
Perhaps one of the reasons why I admire Neerja Bhanot so much is because she was no big activist, no celebrity with a big platform to speak out against injustice. She was a random young woman who, when faced with extraordinary circumstances, showed extraordinary qualities. Both in her life leaving her husband, and in her death saving her passengers, she rose above what was expected of her and, like I said in the beginning, set an example of true bravery for other young women and girls in the process. This is why, on this day, I dedicate this article to her.
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