Hours before the US presidential elections, special prayers were held for Democrat candidate Kamala Harris's victory at her ancestral village in Tamil Nadu.
Thulasendrapuram, a small village in Tamil Nadu, is where the late Indian American scientist Shyamala Gopalan's parents were born. Dr Gopalan is, of course, Kamala Harris' mother and someone the presumptive Democratic presidential candidate often cites as the biggest influence on her life.
'Her grandfather left the village more than 70 years ago. None of her family is here. Nobody from her gothram is here. The people who knew her grandfather are long dead. I cannot understand why people keep coming here and asking us questions about her.'
Kamala's role as vice president was more than just symbolic. Unlike her predecessors, she wielded considerable power during Biden's presidency.
'Kamala likes south Indian food.' 'She likes a special rasam which her husband also likes, she likes coconut rice, she likes puri aloo...'
Loomer, 31, often seen as a right-wing conspiracy theorist, made the remark while commenting on a photo posted by Harris on National Grandparents Day in which the vice president talked about her grandparents from India.
The village has been in the news since the day, Democratic candidate Joe Biden chose Kamla Harris as his running mate and vice presidential nominee.
Harris remembered her late mother Shyamala Gopalan, a cancer researcher and civil rights activist from India, saying she has always carried that lesson from her mother with her throughout her career from serving as the first woman District Attorney of San Francisco, to the first woman Attorney General of California, and the first woman of colour to represent California in the United States Senate.
Musings on love, life and everything in between.
Gopalan Balachandran recalls his eldest sister Dr Sushila Gopalan and her daughter Kamala who is now the US vice-president-elect.
She is also the first ever Indian American to be nominated as presidential candidate of either the Republican or the Democratic party.
A peek into the life of United States Vice President Kamala Harris, the likely Democratic presidential nominee.
Wishing and greeting her with 'Vanakkam,' Stalin said it was a matter of pride for the state's people that America's first woman vice president-elect has a link to Tamil Nadu as her mother hailed from the state.
An air of excitement and expectancy pervades Thulasendrapuram village in Tiruvarur district of Tamil Nadu hoping that Democrat Kamala Harris, current vice president, wins the US presidential elections.
Delhi-based Balachandran said he was feeling "proud and happy", describing Harris as a fighter.
'I think of that young baby, still in her diapers, balancing with her arms held up by her mother, a Tamil woman wearing a salwar kameez and a dupatta, seated on a stoop,' recalls Aseem Chhabra.
Harris, who is of Indian and African heritage, has received the backing from more than the 1,976 pledged delegates needed to win the Democratic Party's nomination on the first ballot, CNN reported on the first full day of her campaign.
Describing her Republican rival Donald Trump as an unserious man, Kamala Harris warned Americans of the consequences of re-electing him for the second term.
Gopalan Balachandran, Harris' maternal uncle, said she will script many firsts if she wins and expressed the hope her top-level position will give Indians in the US "greater access" in interacting with the US administration.
Thulasenthirapuram and Painganadu villages in Tamil Nadu celebrate their daughter's victory.
Kamala has finessed bubblegum conversation about whether she is Black or Indian. Her Irrelevancing-approach, an Irrelevance-code if you will, is Elevated and Elegant -- this is the Elevance of Kamala! asserts economist Dr Anuradha Luther Maitra.
'Whatever Kamala is today, it is because of my sister.' 'My sister inculcated South Indian culture and values in her,' Dr Sarala Gopalan, US Senator-electKamala Harris' maternal aunt, tells Rediff.com's Shobha Warrier in Chennai.
Balachandran said that he would encourage Kamala Harris like any other parent and advice her to continue the good work.
'Your being elected as the Vice President of America has been such an important and historic event. You are the source of inspiration for so many people around the world,' Modi said.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi's nearly hour-long address to the United States Congress evoked multiple standing ovations, applauses and cheers from American lawmakers and chants of 'Modi, Modi' from members of the diaspora community sitting in the grand House Chamber at the US Capitol in Washington, DC.
Harris opened her vice-presidential acceptance speech on Wednesday night at the virtual Democratic National Convention by remembering her late mother, Shyamala Gopalan Harris, lamenting the fact that she could not be there to see her daughter's achievement.
California Attorney General Kamala Harris formally announced her campaign for the United States Senate on Tuesday. Her announcement came after US Senator Barbara Boxer announced that she would retire when her term ends in 2017.
Prime Minister Modi's remarks on Thursday came during his address to a joint session of the US Congress. He attributed a big part of the success of India-US ties to Indian-Americans.
Kamala and her younger sister Maya are incredibly close.
Kamala Harris used her forceful presidential acceptance speech to present herself as a leader who could unite the country to chart a 'new way forward' and warned Americans of 'extremely serious' consequences of putting her Republican rival Donald Trump back in the White House.
Every day at 11 am, T Rooban performs a special Abhisheka Aradhana for Kamala Harris' success, pouring liquid offerings over the deity's image while chanting sacred Sanskrit mantras.
India and the US are working with renewed trust in areas of new and emerging technologies, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Friday as he thanked the American leadership for giving him a grand welcome.
'The die is cast. The wave is for her.' 'We will win this. The numbers are going to be higher than people are saying.' 'It is going to be more closer to Obama's numbers than Biden's numbers.'
Harris, 55, who is the first black to be selected as a vice-presidential candidate of a major party, took a trip down the memory lane, mentioning her 'long walks' in Madras (now Chennai) with her grandfather who would tell her about the 'heroes' responsible for the birth of the world's largest democracy.
She is the first black woman elected to the upper chamber in more than two decades.
Will she or won't she, is the question that has set social media abuzz. For those wondering, the question is whether or not US Vice President-elect Kamala Harris will wear a sari on Inauguration Day to invoke her Indian heritage.
Harris, the 49th US Vice President, will serve as the deputy of President Joe Biden, 78, who also took the oath of office, becoming the 46th US President.
In the first address as United States Vice President-elect, Kamala Harris thanked people of the United States "for turning out in record number" and said Americans have ushered in a "new day" for the country.
Vice President Kamala Harris, who is the Democratic presidential candidate, in an op-ed on Saturday, recollected her frequent visit to India as a child, and her mother's mission to cure cancer.
Indian-American California Attorney General Kamala Harris has won a major endorsement for her Senate bid from top Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren.
