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Mumbai-born Ramesh Advani, 51, was elected Selectman in the small town of Norfolk, Massachusetts. He makes history by becoming the first non-white to be elected in the conservative, white-collar bedroom community. Norfolk, 25 miles southeast of Boston, has a population of 10,460 residents in 2,818 households; the township is 96 percent white, the majority of whom are WASPs. The Indian-American component of the population is limited to 15 families. A Selectman is the small-town equivalent of mayor. He forms part of the old-fashioned open-town meeting form of government. Under this, town members gather en masse for an annual meeting, at which they elect the executive branch to manage the public affairs.

A Selectman serves for three years. He is part of the board on civic leadership that coordinates town agencies and appoints officials to the public works department, police, fire department et al besides owning fiscal responsibility for the town's budget. Advani, director of finance, Fidelity Investments Systems Company, Boston, defeated Jim Lehan, a retired senior executive in the insurance industry and school committee member, by 55 percent Lo 43 percent.

Advani, alumnus of the Indian Institute of Technology, Mumbai (degree in Electrical Engineering, Class of 1974), acknowledged that his victory was due to "a lot of groundwork I did, talking to a lot of groundwork I did, talking to a lot of people and telling them about my long involvement in the town activities."

"1 learned a lot about how to run a whole election campaign," Advani told India Abroad; he credited wife Rita nee Mirchandani with his success. "I feel this victory is so significant because Massachusetts has got so much tradition and history and New England is generally very conservative, especially small towns like Norfolk. I hope my success will encourage
other Indian-Americans to get involved. "I am hoping I am somewhat of a torchbearer here," Advani said.

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Advani, a Norfolk resident of 20 years standing, has no party affiliation. "In Massachusetts, most voters are Un-enrolled. Our town is very strongly Republican and I am getting a lot of overtures from the town committee that I should get involved in one of the parties. I am leaning toward the Republican Party. But I just have to see where it goes."

Given his fiscal background, Advani figures he can contribute most in that aspect of town life, especially given recent cutbacks in local aid. "In fact, the slogan I ran on was fiscal leadership because I thought this is where I can really make a difference." Advani, who was part of the founding group of the Indian American Forum for Political Education and a stalwart of the
Massachusetts chapter along with the likes of Dr Dinesh Patel, Narain Bhatia, Ravi Sakhuja and Ramesh Kapur, said he was always a political animal.

"Two things I can give of myself, and I think more Indian-Americans should do, is time and brains. We are using our brains to make a lot of money but our time, which is the most precious resource we have, should also be given as much as we can to improve our community. I mean not just the Indian-American community, but the community where we live. This is imperative." The Selectman-elect emphasized the need for the Indian-American community "to mainstream itself and the best way to begin is at the local and grass-roots level."

"This is the only way you can be visible. One lady said in our town after I was elected, 'Thank God, finally some diversity in our government.' It was great to hear that," Advani recalled.
He served on the town's charter committee; was involved in its examination of the inner-workings of Norfolk and in making recommendations for improvement. He was also a driving force behind the fund-raising for a new elementary school, and the catalyst for the creation of a department of finance to coordinate and integrate financial management of the town.

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