Updated: November 3, 2020 10:17:06 pm
Democratic vice presidential candidate Sen. Kamala Harris speaks at a campaign event in Las Vegas. (AP)
Written by Jeffrey Gettleman and Suhasini Raj
More than 13,000 kilometers from the White House, in an Indian village surrounded by lush green rice paddies, several dozen people flocked to a Hindu temple, carrying roses and sweet-smelling jasmine threads, praying for Senator Kamala Harris.
The town, Thulasendrapuram, has a special relationship with Harris, the Democratic vice presidential candidate. It is where his maternal grandfather was born more than 100 years ago.
On Tuesday, Thulasendrapuram, which is about an eight-hour drive from the southern city of Chennai, gathered for a special ceremony at the main temple to wish Harris good luck on Election Day.
Men dressed in white dhotis, a sarong-like wrap, and women in sparkling saris draped Hindu idols with flowers and sang hymns. As elections began to unfold in the United States, everyone was overflowing with confidence that Joe Biden, the Democratic presidential candidate, and Harris would win.
“She is the daughter of the people’s land,” said Lalitha, a homemaker, who could barely contain her excitement. “The position he has reached is incredible.”
Although Harris has been more underrated about her Indian heritage than about her experience as a black woman, her path to the U.S. vice presidential nomination has also been guided by the values of her Indian-born mother and her Indian family in general.
In several speeches, Harris spoke about her Indian grandfather, PV Gopalan, an official who inspired her with his stories about fighting for the rights of Indians to achieve independence from Great Britain.
Gopalan challenged the conservative stereotypes of his time, according to neighbors and family friends, lending unwavering support to the women in his family, especially Harris’s mother, Shyamala Gopalan. She came to the United States in the late 1950s, young and single, and pursued a career as a breast cancer researcher at the University of California, Berkeley, before dying of cancer in 2009.
The residents of Thulasendrapuram recall that Shyamala visited her at least once and said that Harris had also stopped as a child. His name is inscribed on a board in the main temple; apparently she donated some money, although no one remembered for sure.
As soon as the good luck ceremony ended on Tuesday, villagers threw a feast of idli and sambar, South Indian rice cakes with spicy lentil stew. The villagers insisted that it was Harris’s favorite dish.
While Thulasendrapuram is clearly leaning Democrats in this election, President Donald Trump has a lot of support in India. One man, who died recently, even built a shrine for him in his backyard.
In February, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi threw a huge welcome party for Trump during an official visit called “Namaste, Trump” (Hello, Trump).
The Indian media has focused on this election as a referendum on Trump. There have been few stories about Harris and his connections to India. Many Indians did not know (and neither did many Americans) that Harris was of Indian descent until they put her on the ticket.
But the people of Thulasendrapuram knew it.
And although Harris’s family is long gone, and his grandfather eventually moved to Chennai, the town is already planning big things. One villager said the temple would surely receive more donations if Harris won. Another hoped that the government would now build a university in this area, something residents have been wanting for years.
“It is quite obvious that the townspeople hope that once he wins this election he will do us some favors,” said RR Kalidas Vandayar, an elder. “We hope the prayers work.”
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