Kamala Harris' ancestral village Thulasendrapuram ‘roots’ for her victory

THANJAVUR: Donald Trump’s threats and Joe Biden inching closer to occupying the White House, have the residents of this nondescript village in Tiruvarur district on the edge of their seats. In fact, forget Trump and Biden, Thulasendrapuram Painganadu villagers are waiting to revel when Kamala Harris gets elected the Vice-President. Kamala’s maternal grandfather PV Gopalan was from their village.

The palpable tension and arrangements for celebrations here would belie the fact that the village was not familiar with attorney general of California Kamala Harris till August this year. When she was announced by Joe Biden as his running mate in August 11, media began to publish her bio and Painganadu village name popped up near her grandfather’s name.

PV Gopalan was born in 1911 and left the village when he was around 20 years old. He took up a job with the then British Government and eventually shifted his family out too. President of the Green City Rotary Club of Mannargudi J Sudhakar says, “We were elated on coming to know of her ancestry.” As the ‘naattamai’ (traditional village head), Sudhakar was instrumental in erecting banners in the village wishing Kamala victory.

“As most of the villagers did not know about her, we explained her ancestry to them. We also arranged a special pooja at the Sri Dharma Sastha Ayyanar temple in Thulasendrapuram. Now, mediapersons are camping in our village to capture the revelry,” he added. On the other hand, no one here has any contacts with Gopalan’s family members. All they know is that Gopalan died in Chennai in 1998.

They are also not sure where exactly his house was located in the village’s agraharam street. This notwithstanding, the joy of one of their own attaining such a powerful position has brought out the festive spirits of these villagers. Deepavali might arrive a few days early to Thulasendrapuram Painganadu.