``The Narmada Bachao Andolan activists are tired of being right, they want to win the war now,'' she said at the talk on ``A Writer in Society: The greater common good,' organised by Parisar at the Garware College today.``But I would rather lose the war than not fight it at all,'' she added emphatically, to a rapt audience, that dispelled her claim that ``she was not a good speaker.''

Speaking at length about Bargi, one of the first dams to be built in the Narmada valley, which flooded 61 more villages than expected, she said she had been shocked to discover that the greater common good is actually the lesser good. ``My recent article in Outlook symbolises the story of how one class impoverishes another, all in the name of national good.''

``It's time to look for alternatives to big dams, time to fund research into less traumatic alternatives,'' she stressed.

Roy called upon Puneites to participate in the ``Rally for the Valley,'' which will leave Indore on July 31. NBA activist Sadhana Dadhich announced that on July 11, at 9 am, the NBA had organised a hunger strike at Tilak statue, Mandai, and urged Puneites to join it.

About The God of Small Thing, she said it was not about small things, but about everything, a philosophy, which did not have a simple message. ``If I had simple messages to deliver, I would have become a politician,'' she said, announcing that the royalties of the publication of The Greater Common Good would also be given to the cause of the Narmada Valley. Her talk included screening of excerpts of Kaise Jeebo Re, a film by Anurag Singh and Jharna Javeri.