Her vision of a more equitable society took shape early. "It was perhaps myparents’ zeal for social work that inspired me. If I had not been doing what I amdoing now, I would have become a doctor and practised in the villages," she says.After a stint at the Tata Institute of Social Sciences followed by an unsatisfactoryexperience with NGOs, she launched her struggle for rehabilitation of Narmada oustees.That set the scene for more battles against anti-people development. A crusade that hasearned her the Alternative Nobel Prize in ’92, the Goldman Environment Prize in’93 and the love of thousands.