22 July 2024 Punjab Khabarnama : Kamala Harris’ ancestral village in Tamil Nadu, India, has planned celebrations in anticipation of her getting one step closer to becoming the US President
Thulasendrapuram, a small village in Tamil Nadu, India, is gearing up to celebrate Vice President of the United States, Kamala Harris, as she comes one step closer to becoming the Democratic nominee and potential President of the US.
In a post on X, US President Joe Biden dropped out of the presidential race, making his Vice President, Kamala Harris a strong contender for the Democratic ticket.
As support and endorsements for the experienced lawmaker flood in, 12,900 km from Washington DC, Thulasendrapuram, her ancestral village from her mother’s side has been preparing for this moment all along, reported Reuters.
Harris’ maternal grandfather was born in Thulasendrapuram, a village she visited when she was five. She would walk along the beach of Chennai, only 320 km from the village with her grandfather.
While she has not visited the village after becoming Vice President, the pride and excitement surrounding her political ascent remains.
In 2021, when she became Vice President, the village celebrated with firecrackers, posters and calendars with her pictures and free chocolate.
The New York Times reported in 2021, that the village held a special ceremony in their temple to pray for Harris and even inscribed her name inside the temple. Many people referred to her as the “daughter of the village”.
As the scale of her political career moves upward, the celebration is likely to get grander according to villagers.
K Kaliyaperumal, a member of the village committee, told Reuters, that if she were to win and become president the celebration would be much larger, comparing it to India’s recent win at the cricket World Cup which had created waves of joy in the nation.
The villagers had been tracking her progress through the news and TV shows and hope that they will find mention if she does win.
“Residents expected a visit, statement or at least a mention about the village, but that didn’t happen,” said G Manikandan, a shopkeeper in Thulasendrapuram, where some 2,000 people live, Reuters reported.
“Many people hung calendars with her picture outside their homes when she became vice president. They are not so prominent anymore. But it’s likely they will now make a comeback.”
While the village may be disappointed it didn’t get a mention, SV Ramanan, who runs a temple to the family deity of Harris’ grandfather, was sympathetic, saying her family left Thulasendrapuram in the 1930s.
He said that as an American, Harris understandably might not be aware of the village’s excitement, comparing it to cheering for a horse race where the winning horse “doesn’t understand why you are shouting and why you are clapping”.