Kamala Harris Set Desi Twitter Abuzz With A Shout-Out To Her "Chithis"

[INDIAPOSITIVE]

During her vice-presidential acceptance speech at the Democratic National Convention, Senator Kamala Harris, 55, touched upon the importance of families. A special shout-out to her "chithis" - a Tamil word which means "aunts" - is now winning her a lot of love from desi Twitter.

Last week, Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden picked Senator Kamala Harris as his running mate - a decision that made her the first Black woman and the first Asian-American woman to be selected as the vice presidential nominee of a major party in the US. Ms Harris, whose mother was from India and father from Jamaica, made history on Wednesday when she accepted the Democratic nomination for vice president.

In her vice-presidential acceptance speech, Ms Harris, 55, gave a special mention to her mother, Shyamala Gopalan, who was born in Chennai and immigrated to the US for a doctoral programme at the age of 19.

"She raised us to be proud, strong Black women. And she raised us to know and be proud of our Indian heritage," she said.

Ms Harris then went on to talk about her family, which includes her husband Doug, their "beautiful children, Cole and Ella", nieces, godchildren, uncles, aunts and her chithis. "Family is my uncles, my aunts and my chithis," said Kamala Harris.

The use of the Tamil word came as a special surprise to Indian-Americans and set desi Twitter abuzz, even as Google searches for "chithi" spiked.

Her niece, Meena Harris, was among those who joined the tweet-storm.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1296279846423756805

Chef and TV host Padma Lakshmi, who was born in Chennai and had earlier hailed Ms Harris as a "formidable choice", tweeted about her use of chithi in the speech.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1296280334515003394

Take a look at some of the other reactions:

https://twitter.com/x/status/1296280818306949120

According to reports, Ms Harris had once asked her chithi or aunt in India to break coconuts for good luck at a Hindu temple when she was in the fray for California attorney general election in 2010.

The New York Times, in an article titled "How Kamala Harris's Family in India Helped Shape Her Values", said when Ms Harris was fighting the elections for California Attorney General, she called her aunt Sarala Gopalan in Chennai and asked her to break coconuts for good luck at a Hindu temple overlooking the beach at Besant Nagar where she used to walk with her grandfather.

Kamala Harris has spoken about her Indian roots and remembered her walks with her grandfather earlier as well. On Saturday, she took a trip down memory lane, recalling her mother's attempts to "instill a love of good idli" in her and sister Maya and "long walks" with her grandfather in Chennai.

Her sister Maya Harris had marked her vice presidential nomination by sharing an emotional video introducing the woman "who made it all possible" - their mother. "You can't know who Kamala Harris is without knowing who our mother was. Missing her terribly, but know she and the ancestors are smiling today. #BidenHarris2020," Maya Harris tweeted last week, sharing the clip which shows one of Kamala Harris' speeches showcasing her mother's heritage as a strong woman from Chennai who migrated to America to study science.

https://www.ndtv.com/offbeat/kamala...abuzz-with-a-shout-out-to-her-chithis-2282317

 

[INDIAPOSITIVE]

How Kamala Harris’s Family in India Helped Shape Her Values

CHENNAI, India — One of Senator Kamala Harris’s brightest childhood memories was walking down the beach hand in hand with her Indian grandfather.

Her grandfather, P.V. Gopalan, had served for decades in the Indian government, and his ritual, nearly every morning, was to meet up with his retired buddies and talk politics as they strolled along the beach in Besant Nagar, a seaside neighborhood in Chennai where brightly painted fishing boats line the sand and Hindu temples stare out at the sea. During her visits from the United States, Ms. Harris tagged along while the men discussed equal rights, corruption and the direction India was headed.

“I remember the stories that they would tell and the passion with which they spoke about the importance of democracy,” Ms. Harris said in a 2018 speech to an Indian-American group. “As I reflect on those moments in my life that have had the most impact on who I am today — I wasn’t conscious of it at the time — but it was those walks on the beach with my grandfather in Besant Nagar that had a profound impact on who I am today.”

as a Black woman, her path to U.S. vice-presidential pick has also been guided by the values of her Indian-born mother, her Indian grandfather and her wider Indian family who have provided a lifelong support network that endures even from 8,000 miles away.

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He instilled great confidence in Ms. Harris’s mother, Shyamala Gopalan, who came to America in the late 1950s young and alone and made a career as a breast cancer researcher before dying of cancer in 2009.

Ms. Harris remains close to her mother’s side of the family — her aunts and uncle can talk for hours from their homes in India about the bruising battles she has fought in San Francisco, Sacramento or Washington, giving the impression that they had ringside seats.

not seeking the death penalty for a man accused of killing a police officer. She considered the death penalty flawed on many levels, both high-minded and pragmatic: racial inequities being one and the cost of pursuing the cases being another. Despite intense pressure from police officers and some of the top politicians in the state, Ms. Harris didn’t back down.

“She got that from her mother,” her uncle said. “Shyamala always taught her: Don’t let anyone push you around.”

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During a later race for California attorney general, Ms. Harris called her aunt Sarala Gopalan in Chennai and asked her to break coconuts for good luck at a Hindu temple overlooking the beach at Besant Nagar where she used to walk with her grandfather.

The aunt lined up 108 coconuts — an auspicious number in Hinduism — to be smashed. “And it takes a whole day to arrange that,” she said. Ms. Harris won the election, by the slimmest of margins.

That beach is now shut. With India hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic and much of the country still locked down, the environs that Ms. Harris so fondly remembers are desolate. Last week a few sinewy, shirtless fishermen stood ankle deep in the waves and tugged hand lines, hoping for a fish.

Because of the foreign policy positions Ms. Harris has staked out as a senator, she has some detractors in India. But across the country she evokes enormous pride, particularly in the beachside community where she traces her roots.

Her mother filed for divorce when Ms. Harris was 7.

For Ms. Gopalan, it was important to maintain her Indian heritage. She introduced her daughters to Hindu mythology and South Indian dishes such as dosa and idli, and took them to a nearby Hindu temple where she occasionally sang. She also stayed close to her parents and flew back every few years to Chennai, on India’s southeast coast, where her parents had settled.

she criticized India’s foreign minister after he refused to meet with an Indian-American congresswoman who was also critical about Kashmir.

Kashmir is one of the most bitterly divisive issues in India. While many on India’s left have celebrated Ms. Harris’s rise, others on the right have criticized her, calling her a sellout.

Suhasini Haidar, a prominent Indian journalist.

Ms. Harris has not been back to India since her mother died 11 years ago. It had been her mother’s dying wish to return. In the end, Ms. Harris returned with her ashes.

It was obvious where they would go.

One sunny morning, Ms. Harris and her uncle walked down to the beach in Besant Nagar where she used to stroll with her grandfather all those years ago, and scattered the ashes on the waves.

Shalini Venugopal Bhagat contributed reporting.




https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/16/world/asia/kamala-harris-india.html

 

[W.11]

since RSS lost million dollar funding for their representative Tulsi Gabbard, they think they have an alternative who would vouch for them.

https://thehill.com/homenews/campai...-wins-hawaii-primary-to-replace-tulsi-gabbard

 

[manlion]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1295122834080108544

 

[Novice09]

Politicians know how to USE EMOTIONS FOR THEIR OWN BENEFIT...

 

[manlion]

Politicians know how to USE EMOTIONS FOR THEIR OWN BENEFIT...

 

[Pan-Islamic-Pakistan]

Another witch hunt of Pakistani Americans in the making.

 

[Novice09]

And these are the fools of NEXT LEVEL...

 

[manlion]

Her Tamil chithis is cool

https://twitter.com/x/status/1296680127573528576

 

[manga]

Again making fool out of some people by shouting that word which no body ever heard.

Looks like trump planted her to make himself look like a saint.