It was US Vice President Kamala Harris’ time to shine on the biggest night of her political life on Thursday as she accepted the Democratic presidential nomination before an ecstatic crowd. As she pledged a “new way forward”, watching her acceptance speech from continents away in Chennai was her maternal aunt Dr Sarala Gopalan.
Dr Gopalan, affectionately called ‘chitthi’ – Tamil word for mother’s sister – by Kamala Harris, expressed pride in her niece’s accomplishments and the values instilled by her sister.
“I am proud of my daughter,” Mr Gopala, who remembered Kamala Harris as a “nice, thoughtful child”, told NDTV.
Recalling heartwarming stories of Ms Harris’ childhood, her visits to India and their families’ close bond, her aunt said, “Kamala always calls me and my younger sister chitthi. She mentioned us and our brother in her Vice Presidential acceptance speech.”
She also mentioned an instance when Kamala Harris was visiting Chandigarh: “She came to Chandigarh to visit me and she had a watch in her hand. I said, ‘Kamala, that’s a nice watch’. And the next thing that happened was that she took out the watch and gave it to me. It had a gold strap and everything. She said, ‘You like it, you keep it, chitthi’. That’s the kind of person she is.”
Dr Sarala Gopalan, Kamala Harris’s aunt.
In her speech, Kamala Harris remembered her trailblazer mother Shyamala Gopalan whom she described as “a brilliant 5-foot tall brown woman with an accent.”
Shyamala Gopalan was only 19 when she travelled from India to California with a dream to be the scientist who would cure breast cancer.
“She taught us to never complain about injustice, but to do something about it! Do something about it. That was our mother,” Kamala Harris said.
Sarala Gopalan recalled her sister Shyamala earned a US Fulbright scholarship on her own and her father, PV Gopalan, then an Indian bureaucrat, allowed her to study in the US. “Our father was particular about good education and he let her go,” she said.
“My sister Shyamala always stood up and fought for what was right. She taught her children to do the same,” said Dr Gopalan.
Kamala Harris (R) with her mother (L) and ‘chitthi’ (C).
She said that even though Kamala Harris can speak only a few words of Tamil but knows most of the Tamil cuisine. “Whenever my sister Mahalakshmi, who lives in Canada and is a good cook, visits Kamala, she would ask her to cook and put the food in the freezer. Her children and husband too like Indian food,” she said.
Kamala Harris is viewed as a role model in her mother’s ancestral village of Thulasendrapuram, where villages pray at the main temple for her.
Expressing surprise at the love and support for Ms Harris from their ancestral village, Dr Gopalan noted that India holds a special place in Kamala Harris’ heart.
“Kamala is an American, but India is very special to her. She cherishes a few things in India,” she said.
Ms Harris, Dr Gopalan says, treasures a gift by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. “From the gazette, he had taken out my father’s postings in the government of India as a joint secretary and when he was sent to the foreign service in Zambia. He highlighted those from the gazette and gave it in a beautiful frame as a gift to Kamala. Kamala treasures it because it’s (related to) her grandfather,” she said, adding, “Normally, she can’t keep such gifts and it goes to the government. In this case, they let her have it.”
On the profound impact of the grandfather on Kamala Harris, Dr Gopalan said, “They got along well. My father used to take her along the Besant Nagar Beach during his walk. Kamala says their conversations (during that time) impacted her much”.
She also recalled the last time she visited Ms Harris. “I visited her last in the summer of 2022 after she became the Vice President. I stayed at the Vice President house for four or five days and that was a very pleasant thing. I visited her office and she was kind enough to take me to the President’s office and showed me the Oval Office and I was very happy,” she said.
Rooting for Kamala Harris, her aunt wished her all the best. hoping she would set a record in the US by becoming the first woman President.
