Kamala Harris, Democratic vice-president nominee, on
Saturday recalled how her mother would take her and sister Maya to what was
then called Madras because she wanted their daughters to know about their culture and
background. Speaking during an event by “South Asians for Biden”, Harris
extended wishes on India’s Independence Day and said the Indian and US
communities are bound together by so much more than their shared history and
culture, reported news agency ANI.

At the event, Harris recalled how she used to take ‘long walks’
with her grandfather in Chennai and her mother’s constant effort to instill in
them a love of good Idli.

“Growing up, my mother would take my sister Maya and me
back to what was then called Madras because she wanted us to understand where
she had come from and where we had ancestry. And, of course, she always wanted
to instil in us, a love of good idli,” she said.

“In Madras, I would go on long walks with my
grandfather, who at that point was retired, and we take morning walks where I
pulled his hand and he would tell me about the heroes who are responsible for
the birth of the world’s biggest democracy, and he would explain that ‘tt’s on
us to pick up where they left off’. Those lessons are a big reason why I am
where I am today,” Harris added.

“When my mother Shyamala [Gopalan] stepped off a plane
in California as a 19-year-old, she didn’t have much in way of belongings but
she carried with her lessons from home, including ones she’d learned from her
parents,” she said.

Early this week, Democratic Presidential nominee Joe Biden
announced Harris as his running mate in the US presidential election.

Harris, whose father is from Jamaica and mother an Indian,
is the first-ever Black woman from a major political party and first-ever woman from Indian-American descent
to be a vice-presidential nominee.