People in the village where her Indian grandfather lived pray for Kamala Harris to win

On Tuesday, a Hindu priest in Kamala Harris’ home town in southern India offered prayers for her win in the U.S. presidential election, complete with bell ringing, sacred chanting, and offerings of flowers and bananas.
Local villagers in the Tamil Nadu state of Thulasendrapuram organized the temple event, which was attended by over a dozen of them as well as a few tourists.
P.V. Gopalan, Harris’ maternal grandfather, was born in Thulasendrapuram over a century ago before relocating to Chennai, the state capital. When he retired, he held a senior position in the government.

“Kamala Harris should win” was the priest’s final statement after lighting incense, and he gave ash and vermilion powder to everyone in attendance. Harris’ and her grandfather’s names are inscribed on a stone at the temple that records donations from the general public. On Tuesday, a local politician named Arulmozhi Sudhakar put up a poster outside wishing “the daughter of the land” luck in the election.

“She is one of us. She will win,” said Sudhakar, a representative of a local village body. “Once she wins, we will offer special prayers (on Wednesday) and also donate food at the temple.”

Sudhakar also painted “Best Wishes for Success” on the mud floor in front of her thatched-roof home a few kilometres (miles) from the temple.

The prayers in Thulasendrapuram on Tuesday attracted a handful of tourists, including two American and one British woman wearing “Kamala Freakin Harris” shirts and chanting “Go Kamala!”

“I am very pro-Kamala, so I wanted to experience her native village,” said Devony Evans, a Chennai-based expat who said she voted for Harris and is from Seattle, Washington. “It was important for us, as women, to come … to honour her.”

Four years ago, the town gained international notice when its residents lit firecrackers and distributed food to celebrate Harris’ inauguration as U.S. Vice President, followed by prayers for Harris’ Democratic Party to win in 2020.Born to a Jamaican father and an Indian mother who both emigrated to the United States for education, Harris visited Thulasendrapuram when she was five years old and remembers taking walks on Chennai’s beach with her grandfather.