Kamala Harris’s ancestral village in India holds special prayer for her victory

An unassuming colony astir 13,000km from Washington is observing the US statesmanlike predetermination with exceptional involvement owed to its ties with Democratic statesmanlike campaigner Kamala Harris.

A Hindu temple in the vice president’s ancestral village successful India's Tamil Nadu authorities held prayers connected predetermination time for her triumph implicit Republican rival Donald Trump.

Life-size billboards wishing Ms Harris luck up of the important polls adorned the lanes of Thulasendrapuram, an idyllic agrarian haven surrounded by atom paddy fields astir 350km from the authorities superior Chennai.

Born to an Indian parent and Jamaican father, Ms Harris chiefly embraced her Black individuality but periodically remembered her Asian roots and her clip spent successful Chennai arsenic an infant.

G Manikandan, a villager who runs a tiny store adjacent the temple, said "celebrations volition travel if she wins" arsenic a ample banner extracurricular the temple wished "the girl of the land" success.

Outside the 300-year-old Hindu temple, a achromatic chromatic array features the sanction of Ms Harris on with large donors. According to locals, a comparative made a grounds donation of Rs 5000 (£46.50) successful her sanction successful 2014 erstwhile she was serving arsenic California’s lawyer general.

Ms Harris’s gramps PV Gopalan was calved successful Thulasendrapuram successful the aboriginal 1900s and moved distant from the village, archetypal to Chennai and aboriginal to Delhi, wherever helium worked arsenic a high-ranking authorities authoritative until his retirement.

His occurrence paved the mode for Harris’s mother, Shyamala Gopalan, to determination to the US erstwhile she was 19 to survey biomedical subject astatine UC Berkeley. It was determination that she met her aboriginal hubby Donald Harris, an migrant from Jamaica.

The colony received planetary attraction 4 years ago, erstwhile its residents prayed for triumph for Ms Harris's Democratic Party successful 2020 earlier celebrating her inauguration arsenic US vice president by mounting disconnected firecrackers and distributing food.

"Even aft her household has moved from the village, they inactive sponsor prayers astatine the temple, not giving up connected their roots. That is simply a root of pridefulness for us,” N Maheshwari, a market store owner, told The Independent earlier successful September.

While this twelvemonth the excitement is muted successful the village, radical are inactive waiting with bated breaths for the predetermination results.

Ms Harris is said to person visited the colony herself erstwhile she was 5 years old, and successful interviews has recalled memories of walking with her gramps connected the formation successful Chennai. She hasn’t been backmost to Tamil Nadu since.

“Ms Harris was not truthful good known successful the colony until it was announced she was the vice statesmanlike campaigner [in August 2020]. This was erstwhile we started gathering information,” said retired banker N Krishnamurthy.

In an op-ed published conscionable days earlier Tuesday's election, Ms Harris reflected connected her Indian roots successful an evident effort to summation the enactment of South-Asian voters.

"Growing up, my parent raised my sister and maine to admit and grant our heritage. Nearly each different year, we would spell to India for Diwali. We would walk clip with our grandparents, our uncles, and our chitthis (Tamil for aunt)," she wrote successful The Juggernaut.

"My gramps was a retired civilian servant. His greeting regular consisted of taking agelong walks connected the formation with his retired buddies. I would articulation him connected those walks and perceive to stories astir the value of warring for ideology and civilian rights," she added.

Ms Harris spoke emotionally astir her ties to her precocious mother's state of commencement during premier curate Narendra Modi's authorities sojourn to Washington successful June 2023.

She said her walks with her gramps and the lessons “first inspired my involvement successful nationalist work … and person guided maine ever since".

She besides talked astir her mother’s power and however she discovered her “love of bully idli", eliciting laughter from the assemblage with her notation to a staple South Indian steamed atom barroom dish.

In the neighbouring authorities of Telangana, Hindu priests performed an 11-day-long 'yajna' oregon supplication ritual for Ms Harris’s electoral success.