As America celebrates the election of its 47th President, thousands of miles away, US vice president-elect Kamala Harris's small village is busy in its own celebrations. elated , US vice president-elect Kamala Harris's ancestral village in India are elated. Women in Thulasendrapuram village in Tiruvarur district of Tamil Nadu drew a special colourful "rangoli" to congratulate her.
The message says, "Congratulations Kamla Harris, the pride of our village," and "Vanakkam America". The villagers also put up posters, distributed sweets and lit firecrackers to show their happiness.
Tiruvarur: Women in Thulasendrapuram, the native village of US Vice President-elect Kamala Harris make 'rangoli' to congratulate her on #USElection win.#TamilNadu pic.twitter.com/Zn1YzOaAJW
— ANI (@ANI) November 8, 2020
She has broken many glass barriers by becoming the first woman and Indian American to be elected as the US vice president. The village has been in news since the day, Democratic candidate Joe Biden chosen Kamla Harris as his running mate and vice-presidential nominee.
Kamala Harris was born to a Jamaican father and an Indian mother Shyamala Gopalan, who was born in Chennai before she moved to the US for further studies. Shyamala was a leading cancer researcher and activist. Kamala Harris's maternal grandfather was born in Thulasenthirapuram, located about 320 km south of the city of Chennai. Shyamala was the daughter of PV Gopalan, a high-ranking civil servant.
Kamala Harris is the first Indian-American to be elected district attorney of San Francisco, the first South Asian American to become a US senator. Harris, who will be the highest-ranking woman in US history, took the stage in Wilmington, Delaware in a white suit in honor of the women's suffragist movement to the sounds of Mary J Blige.
Recalling her mother, Harris in her speech on Saturday said, "..to the woman most responsible for my presence here today my mother, Shyamala Gopalan Harris, who is always in our hearts. When she came here from India at the age of 19, maybe she didn't quite imagine this moment. But she believed so deeply in an America where a moment like this is possible. So, I'm thinking about her and about the generations of women Black women."