Kamala Harris’ connection with City Beautiful

Kaveesha Kohli

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, August 13

As India rejoices Kamala Harris’ nomination as the Democratic vice-presidential candidate, her maternal aunt recalled the California senator’s Chandigarh connection in an interview with The Tribune.

Harris has visited Chandigarh several times and “liked the city”, said her aunt, the former head of PGIMER’s gynaecology department.

“She spent a week in Chandigarh around Christmas, along with her mother, after she became the Attorney-General of California. She has visited Chandigarh before also,” says Dr Sarala Gopalan, who is now based out of Chennai.

Harris was born to an Indian mother, a cancer researcher and civil rights activist, and a Jamaican father. However, she was primarily raised by her mother, Shyamala Gopalan, whom she has often described as a major influence in her life.

“My sister brought up the children extremely well. She is the reason they are so successful today,” says Gopalan.

In fact, after Harris’ nomination was announced, her sister Maya put out a tweet saying: “You can’t know who @KamalaHarris is without knowing who our mother was.”

In the video attached to the tweet, Kamala spoke of how her mother was a “proud, brown woman”.

“It was because of who my mother was…that, within one generation, I stand here as a serious candidate for president of the United States,” said Harris.

Gopalan describes Harris as “nice, kind, good-hearted.” She says the family is brimming with pride and joy after the announcement.

“I have not spoken to her yet, but I know she will call me up very soon,” she adds.

The family that raised strong women

Gopalan served at the PGIMER in Chandigarh for 34 years before retiring in 2006.

She fondly remembers her time in Chandigarh, saying that she enjoyed working at the premier institution.

“I loved my students, I am still in touch with a lot of them,” she says.

In Chandigarh, Gopalan is remembered as a “no-nonsense, stickler for rules” but someone who was incredibly gentle with her patients.

“She was devoted, thorough and a godmother to many children in Chandigarh,” says Rajneesh Watas, former principal of College of Architecture, Chandigarh, whose first-born was delivered by Gopalan.

While Gopalan etched her career as a successful doctor, her sister and Harris’ mother had left India as a 19-year-old in the late 1950s to carve a path for herself.

Harris, too, has repeatedly shattered the glass ceiling and is credited for several ‘firsts’.

She was the first Indian origin and woman district attorney of San Francisco. Harris is among the only three Asian-Americans in the US senate. With Tuesday’s announcement, she is the first Black woman to be appointed as running mate by a Democratic presidential nominee.