Representing the Indian values and traditions, Manjula Sood, will be the first Asian woman to be the lord mayor of Leicester in Britain. She was will maintain and promote the interests of the city as well as its people.

Born and brought up in Ludhiana in Punjab, as a teacher she taught others the Indian values of respect for others and developing a tolerant attitude towards them. She hopes to serve the multicultural population of the city and will respect people from other faiths. Her term of office will be for a year, which will commemorate the 800 years of completion of the lord mayor’s office in Leicester. Sood has been the first Asian woman high bailiff.

This will be the first time that an Asian woman will hold the office of lord mayor anywhere in the United Kingdom. The other person of Indian origin is Harjit Gill, who is the lord mayor in Gloucester.

Sood has appointed a Christian and a Hindu as her spiritual advisers in the council. They are Rev. Jackson and Ramanbhai Barber. Leicester, which represents a multi- cultural society, will have a non-white majority by 2011. Birmingham is the other city where a large number of non-whites live.

As a teacher for many decades, Sood entered politics after the death of her husband, Paul Sood in 1996, who was a councillor himself. After contesting the elections, she became the first Hindu councilor in Leicester. She worked with several eminent politicians such as labour MP Keith Vaz, Patricia Hewitt and Jim Marshall. In 2004, she received a merit award from the Labour Party.

Sood has also actively participated in projects concerning the Asian as well as Afro-Caribbean communities. Her son Manish, 33, as the councilor from Fosseward, works closely with his mother. Sood is the mother of two children.

Sood was also the first Asian woman to work as a primary school teacher. She faced racism and helped many Indians, who were ousted from Uganda by Idi Amin to settle in her town.

source: TOI May15th, 2008