Waking up to the news of US vice president-elect Kamala Harris’ election as US president-elect Joe Biden’s running mate, overjoyed people in her Indian grandfather’s hometown set off firecrackers, carried her placards and offered prayers.
Groups gathered at street corners of the tiny village of Thulasendrapuram, population 350, reading newspapers and chatting about the Democrats’ victory before moving to the temple.
A woman wrote in color powder outside her home: “Congratulations Kamala Harris. Pride of our village. Vanakkam [“Greetings”] America.”
Photo: AP
Most of them had gone to sleep by the time Biden clinched the winning threshold of 270 Electoral College votes, making Harris the first woman and the first person of South Asian descent to be elected US vice president.
“For two or three days we kept our fingers crossed while the result was delayed,” resident Kalidas Vamdayar said.
“Now it’s a joyful moment for us. We are enjoying it. We will celebrate with firecrackers, distributing Indian sweets to people and praying in the temple. We will request her to come here. She would have heard our voice and she may come,” Vamdayar said.
Tamil Nadu Minister of Food R. Kamraj led about 100 people at the Dharma Sastha temple for a prayer, during which the idol of Hindu deity Ayyanar, a form of Lord Shiva, was washed with milk and decked with flowers by the priest.
He chanted hymns after lighting oil lamps and the villagers bowed their heads in respect.
“Kamala Harris is the daughter of our village. From children to senior citizens, each one of us is awaiting the day she would take oath as the vice president of the US,” village councilor Aulmozhi Sudhakar said.
More singing, dancing and firecrackers were planned for yesterday in the village, where cutouts and posters wishing Harris a “grand success” adorn many walls.
As Americans voted on Tuesday, nearly 50 residents, with folded hands, lined up in the temple that reverberated with the sound of ringing bells, and a Hindu priest gave them sweets and flowers as a religious offering.
The lush green village is the hometown of Harris’ maternal grandfather, who had moved to Chennai, the capital of Tamil Nadu, decades ago.
Harris’ late mother was also born in India, before moving to the US at the age of 19 to study at the University of California. She married a Jamaican and they named their daughter Kamala, Sanskrit for “lotus flower.”
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