Neerja Bhanot: Who was she?

Like many of us, I am guilty as charged: When I look at cabin attendants often all I see is a cute girl. 
I, too often, forget that behind those smiles there are months of training to ensure that when I get on a plane, regardless of cabin class, I am taken care of and can enjoy the flight in as safe an environment as possible. 
Once in a while, something happens and we hail flight attendants as heroes. 
Then, their actions often slip into oblivion, or fade in a remote corner of our collective memory. Neerja Bhanot  was one of them. So, allow me to  pull her story out of that remote corner.
On September 5, 1986, Flight PanAm 73 was on its way to the US after a stop at Jinnah International Airport in Karachi. Just before take off, the plane was hijacked by a group of terrorists allegedly belonging to the Abu Nidal organization.
While the pilots, alerted by the crew, fled the cockpit through the safety hatch, the rest of the crew and the passengers were taken hostages. The terrorists asked the cabin attendants to get the passports of all passengers as they wanted to identify US citizens and kill them. Bhanot, the most senior cabin member, and her crew, hid the US passports thus saving the lives of the 41 Americans on board. 
After 17 hours, the Pakistani forces raided the plane. In the ensuing mayhem terrorists detonated explosives and opened fire on the passengers and crew. Bhanot, managed to open one of the plane doors and to help passengers deplane. She did not leave and was shot while shielding three children with her body.  She later died of her wounds two days before her 23rd birthday.  
The government of India posthumously awarded her the Ashoka Chakra Award, the country's highest military decoration awarded during peace time. Bhanot was its youngest recipient. 
It is difficult to say why people sacrifice their lives in the face of extreme danger. But does it really matter? Not really. What matters is that these acts are not forgotten. That the people who commit acts of courage are honored and remembered. That they become role-models for the generations to come. And our contribution, as story-tellers, is that we make sure we keep telling their stories. 

And for Bollywood fans, Neerja is also an upcoming movie to be released in 2016 by Fox Star Studios.  You can watch the official trailer here.