Jottings : Slice of life - 72 ( Neerja - extraordinary courage, professionalism and humanity under pressure)
Jottings : Slice of life - 72 ( Neerja - extraordinary courage, professionalism and humanity under pressure) When Pan-Am flight No 73 was hijacked on 5th september 1986, I was in my mid teens. I think I learnt of the incident from news papers, or I remember my father mentioning that a flight to America was taken hostage by a group of people at gun point , and after nearly eighteen hours, most of the passengers managed to escape through an exit opened by a very brave, young Flight attendant named Neerja Bhanot - who was shot dead during that process. I distinctly remember the beautiful, magnetic smiling face of that recognizable young girl ( Neerja was a popular model) as it appeared in print and limited news channels. We did not have live coverage of tragedies, as we do today. If I jog my memory to see if I was affected by her tragic death in 1986 , I would have to say No. A good looking girl had died by gunshots, and that was all there is to it. I probably assumed it was part of h