Lakshmi Sahgal, the legendary rebel army commander whose defeat in today's crucial presidential election at the hands of 'missile man' A. P. J. Abdul Kalam is a foregone conclusion, is no stranger to lost causes.
A fighter to the core, Ms Sahgal, now 88, did not flinch when left-wing parties singled her out to take on Aavul Pakkiri Jainulabiddin Abdul Kalam, the consensus candidate of the Bharatiya Janata Party-led (BJP) ruling alliance, the opposition Congress party and the Samajwadi Party for the country's highest post.
With the presidential election overwhelmingly loaded against her, she knew all along that she would lose hands down, but refused to give up the fight against nuclear scientist Mr Kalam.
'Our defiance is symbolic. We know that our candidate doesn't stand a chance but we still want ordinary people to know that we are bitterly opposed to the election of a jingoistic hawk and nuclear adventurist,' said Harkishen Singh Surjeet, general secretary of the Communist Party of India (Marxist).
Ms Sahgal took up the gauntlet last month, just as she had in 1943 when Subhash Chandra Bose asked her in Singapore to join the Indian National Army (INA) and command an all-women regiment.
Bose, one of the icons of India's nationalist movement, secretly met Adolf Hitler in Germany and sought his help to free India from British rule. When the Nazi leader declined, he turned to the Japanese.