‘The pride of our village’: Kamala Harris' historic election as vice president celebrated in India
Residents of Kamala Harris’ ancestral village in India celebrated the vice president-elect’s historic win with placards, firecrackers, prayers and other festivities, according to videos posted on social media and local news reports.
“The village was rocked by the sound of bursting crackers,” a local Indian TV reporter recounted in a video clip that showed a group of villagers in Thulasendrapuram, home to Harris’ grandfather, gathered in a semicircle around a small lighted firework.
“Sweets were also distributed to the public,” the reporter noted.
At the village temple, a priest performed a special prayer to celebrate Harris' win. Some residents put up posters featuring a big photo of Harris, while others wrote colorful, congratulatory wishes in front of their houses.
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“Congratulations Kamala Harris, the pride of our village,'' one message read.
Some expressed hopes that Harris would visit Thulasendrapuram once she is sworn in, the local TV reporter said.
Meanwhile, Harris’ uncle, Gopalan Balachandran, who lives in New Delhi, said he plans to travel to Washington for Harris’ inauguration.
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"I spoke to her day before yesterday. It was family chitchat,” he told the Times of India.
Balachandran said he wasn’t nervous about the outcome of the election. “I know she was going to win,” he told Reuters.
Harris made history as the first woman to be elected vice president, as well as the first African American and South Asian American. Harris’ mother is from India, and her father came to the U.S. from Jamaica.
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