Kamala Harris remembers childhood trips to India: ‘My grandfather took me on walks’

US Vice President Kamala Harris remembered her Indian grandparents and her childhood visits to India on the occasion of National Grandparents Day

Published on: Sep 9, 2024, 08:48:24 IST

By Sanya Jain

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US Vice President Kamala Harris remembered her Indian grandparents and her childhood visits to India on the occasion of National Grandparents Day. The Democratic Party presidential candidate shared a throwback photograph that shows her with her grandparents, PV Gopalan and Rajam Gopalam, as she remembered the conversations she had with her grandfather.

A throwback photo shared by US Vice President Kamala Harris on X (X/@KamalaHarris)

“As a young girl visiting my grandparents in India, my grandfather took me on his morning walks, where he would discuss the importance of fighting for equality and fighting corruption. He was a retired civil servant who had been part of the movement to win India’s independence,” claimed Kamala Harris. PV Gopalan had joined the Imperial Secretariat Service during British rule in India which later merged into Central Secretariat Service.

(Also read: 2024 race: Who is Kamala Harris? What's her Indian connection?)

“My grandmother traveled across India—bullhorn in hand—to speak with women about accessing birth control,” Harris, 59, added, crediting her grandparents for instilling in her a love for public service. Harris' maternal grandfather was born in Thulasendrapuram.

Take a look at her post below:

Kamala Harris can trace her ancestry to Tamil Nadu in India. She is of Indian descent from her mother’s side and of Jamaican descent from her father’s side. Her mother, Shymala Gopalan, was the daughter of PV and Rajam Gopalan who moved to the United States at the age of 19 to pursue a Master’s degree.

Kamala Harris is contesting the US presidential election against Republican Donald Trump. In 2021, when she became Vice President, the village of Thulasendrapuram celebrated with firecrackers, posters and calendars with her pictures and free chocolate.

(Also read: Kamala Harris gets major warning from Democrats ahead of face off with ‘good debater’ Trump: He is a ‘master’ at…)

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Sanya Jain
Sanya Jain is an Assistant Editor with Hindustan Times Digital. She has nearly a decade of experience in covering offbeat stories that speak to the everyday experience - from viral videos to human interest copies that spark conversation. Her interests stretch across business, pop culture, social media trends, entertainment and global affairs. Before joining Hindustan Times, Sanya spent two years with Moneycontrol and five years with NDTV. She holds an undergraduate degree in English literature from St Stephen’s College, Delhi, and a master’s in journalism from the Xavier Institute of Communications, Mumbai. Sanya has a sharp eye for spotting emerging trends and looking for newsworthy angles to elevate viral posts into meaningful narratives. She was the first one, for example, to cover Narayana Murthy’s remark on 70-hour work weeks that sparked a national conversation. She is equally at ease writing about business leaders as about the common man, about issues of national importance and memes that amuse social media. Sanya enjoys speaking with content creators, newsmakers and entrepreneurs to transform everyday moments into engaging, slice-of-life stories that resonate with readers. When she is not working, Sanya can be found curled up with a good book. Born and raised in Lucknow, she has spent the last several years in Delhi. She is deeply interested in animal welfare and now spends a lot of her time running after her destructive orange cat.Read More

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