Karuna Nundy could very well have been a journalist. After graduating in Economics from Delhi’s St Stephen’s College, she knew she didn’t want to be an economist. Broadcast journalism had caught her eye and she realised that even if she chose not to do it for the long haul, it would help her build the right set of skills. At NDTV in 1996, she was assigned an investigative story that changed the course of her life. The Institute of Cytology and Preventive Oncology, funded by the Indian Council of Medical Research [ICMR], examined thousands of women, including those suffering from cervical dysplasia, a potentially precancerous condition. Out of about a thousand women who were followed up with for four years, a few women developed cancerous conditions. Since they were participating in the study, they were not offered immediate treatment neither were they informed. Some died before the study ended. 

“It led to a real impact when ICMR changed its policy and that made me realise that I want to be where the impact is,” Nundy says to mid-day over a phone call from Delhi, “While a professional journalist is meant to shine light on a problem and care about the news for its own sake, I realised this was not my role. I thought of going to law school and see if it feels right. When I walked into class for the first time, I felt like a fish sliding into water.”