Kamala Harris’s ancestral village in Tamil Nadu wears a festive look ahead of oath ceremony
- Kamala Harris and Joe Biden will take their oaths in the West wing of the US Capitol
- People of the Tamil Nadu villages consider Harris as the daughter of their soil
- Special prayers were held at the local temple praying for her successful stint as US Vice President
While the US Capitol is set to hear the country’s first female, first Black and first South Asian Vice President take oath on Wednesday, a village in India- Nagapattinam – a native to her maternal grandparents had already started celebrating by bursting firecrackers, distributing sweets and calendars with her photo embossed, PTI reports.
People of two villages in Tamil Nadu, in a 10-km stretch between Mannargudi and Thulasenthirapuram-Painganadu villages in Tiruvarur district were lined with huge digital banners carrying the photo of Kamala Harris.
According to the report, business organisations distributed calendars with her photo to people, while politicians cutting across party lines offered sweets to passers-by. Womenfolk of almost all houses drew rangolis with congratulatory messages and firecrackers were burst at many places.
Special prayers were held at the local temple praying for her successful stint as US Vice President.
The swearing in ceremony starts at the West wing of the US Capitol on Wednesday. Some villagers have just waiting to see Harris being sworn-in on television, PTI said. Thulasenthirapuram-Painganadu villages are located very close to each other near Mannargudi in Tiruvarur district, a part of the fertile Cauvery delta region.
Harris’ grandfather PV Gopalan moved out of Thulasenthirapuram village as a young man and took up a job in the British government service.
Her grandmother Rajam belonged to the nearby Painganadu village.
The 56-year-old Kamala Harris, born to a Jamaican father and Indian mother, scripted history by becoming the first daughter of immigrants ever elected to national office in the United States.
People of these villages consider her as the daughter of their soil.
Though Harris’s ancestors left the village many decades ago, they had kept their connections with the temple at Thulasenthirapuram intact.
Gopalan and other family members have made donations for temple renovation during various periods.
In 2014, a donation was made in the name of Kamala Harris, according to temple authorities.
The villagers are now hoping that she would make a visit to the village where her grandfather lived.
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