Pooja performed in Tamil Nadu village for Kamala Harris's win
What's the story
In Tamil Nadu, residents of a small village, Thulasendrapuram in Mannargudi Taluk of Tiruvarur district, are following the United States elections closely, as one of their granddaughters, Kamala Harris, is in the fray. Hoping that Harris wins, becoming the first Indian-origin Vice-President of the US, the residents held a pooja on Tuesday. Harris's mother, Shyamala Gopalan, has connections to this village. Here's more.
Pooja
Temple was decorated, "abhishekam" done for Harris
The pooja was organized at Dharmasastha temple, which houses the deity Ayyanar (a form of Lord Shiva). The temple was decked up since Tuesday morning, welcoming scores of people who offered prayers for Harris. An abhishekam was done as well. For days now, the village has also been inundated with flex boards, bearing Harris's pictures and wishes for her.
Connection
Despite moving out, Gopalans gave money for temple
The abhishekam was organized by Kalidas Vandaiyar, who was close to Harris's grandfather PV Gopalan. A local named Ramani said that although the Gopalans shifted base decades ago, the family donated money for the temple. "Gopalan's family pitched in to help develop the temple and conduct its consecration by donating money. Mr. Gopalan's name still finds mention in the list of donors," Ramani said.
Sentiments
Want Harris to win, hope to get results soon: Local
Another local V Senthilkumaran said the decision to perform a pooja was taken a few days ago. He said the villagers know that many have already cast their votes, but still wanted to perform pooja on election day. "We all want Kamala to win the election and we hope to get the results this week," Senthilkumaran told News18. Harris's favorite Sambar-Idli was also prepared.
Paneer tikka
Surprisingly, 'paneer tikka' trended in connection to US polls
The US elections have created quite the flutter, more so because of Harris's desi roots. Today, paneer tikka, a popular North Indian dish, trended on Twitter surprising many. It was later clarified that the dish took attention due to a tweet of Indian-American Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal. Jayapal said she was cooking the dish in honor of Harris, who recently revealed it's her favorite.
Twitter Post
Her tweet can be read here
Compulsive, night-before-election activity: make comfort food. That’s paneer tikka tonight, in honor of electing #KamalaHarris Veep tomorrow since she just said on Instagram that her favorite North Indian food is any kind of tikka! Let’s go, people! VOTE! #BidenHarris2020 pic.twitter.com/gqyT7BotgG
— Pramila Jayapal (@PramilaJayapal) November 3, 2020
Elections
Biden and Trump poised for a close contest
Harris is the running mate of Democratic challenger Joe Biden, who is hoping to unseat US President Donald Trump. As per the latest polls, the contest is headed for a nail-biting finish. Though Biden is ahead of Trump by 2.9 percentage points in battleground states, the latter is closing in. In 2016, polls had predicted a win for Hillary Clinton. That clearly didn't happen.