Neerja Bhanot

Neerja Bhanot's story humbles me every time. A young flight attendant and model from Chandigarh, she was just two days shy of her 23rd birthday when hijackers seized Pan Am Flight 73 in 1986. Instead of saving herself, she hid passports, helped passengers escape, and died shielding children from gunfire. The posthumous Ashoka Chakra recognises a courage most of us can only hope we'd find. What moves me is how an ordinary sense of duty became extraordinary sacrifice in an instant. To me her brief life is a reminder that heroism isn't a profession; it's a choice made when everything is at stake.

Name (English)

Neerja Bhanot

Name (Japanese)

ニーラ・バノット

Reading

にーら・ばのっと

Born

September 7, 1963 – September 5, 1986

Zodiac / Chinese zodiac

Virgo / Rabbit

Origin

Chandigarh, India

Occupation

flight attendant / model

University

St. Xavier's College

Awards & achievements

• 1987 Ashoka Chakra

Motto

Private

• Wikipedia (Japanese)https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%83%8B%E3%83%BC%E3%83%AB%E3%82%B8%E3%83%A3%E3%83%BC%E3%83%BB%E3%83%90%E3%83%8E%E3%83%BC%E3%83%88

Tags

• flight attendant
• model

Last updated

2026-06-02

Facts are limited to publicly available information up to 2024; non-public or unconfirmed items are omitted. English text is machine-assisted (facts translated by Sonnet, "My Take" written by Opus 4.8). The Japanese page is the source of record.