But her real heritage is as the one who, along with her teacher Eleanor Zelliott, brought the works and thoughts of Phule and Ambedkar alive to the larger world of academia. In India, Ambedkar’s works and achievements were little known or studied—mainstream academics tended to resist any school of thought that did not conform to certain intellectual traditions, Left-oriented or conservative-Brahminical. As a student of the work of non-Brahmin social revolutionaries and spiritual leaders, Gail chose to be the voice of marginalised sections who didn’t figure in mainstream discourses. She was a strong critic, for instance, of the Narmada Bachao Andolan (NBA), which, according to her, failed to raise leaders from among the people, or offer credible solutions to drought-hit farmers in Maharashtra and Saurashtra in its criticism of the big dam approach to water management. She articulated this in her famous open letter to Arundhati Roy, responding to the support Arundhati had extended to the NBA’s struggle. In later years, she and Arundhati met and, according to Obed Manwatkar, a young scholar activist, “I am a living witness of this talk: Gail gave amazing lessons to Arundhati, who openly accepted she was still learning and had a lot to learn.”