Kamala Harris' ancestral village in India celebrates her vice president-elect win
Video report by ITV News Correspondent John Irvine
Kamala Harris' victory in the US election as vice President-elect has sparked celebrations in the tiny Indian village of Thulasendrapuram, her grandfather's hometown.
Groups gathered at street corners in the south-east Indian village - that has a population of just 350 - as people woke up to the news that the 56-year-old had become the first female vice president-elect.
Locals set off firecrackers congregated with placards congratulating the vice-president elect before offering prayers in temples.
A woman wrote in colour powder outside her home: “Congratulations Kamala Harris. Pride of our village. Vanakkam (Greetings) America.”
Most people had gone to sleep by the time Joe Biden and his campaign clinched the winning threshold of 270 Electoral College votes - making vice-president elect Harris the first person of South Asian descent to hold the position.
"For two or three days we kept our fingers crossed while the result was delayed," said resident Kalidas Vamdayar.
"Now it’s a joyful moment for us. We are enjoying it.
"We will celebrate with firecrackers, distributing Indian sweets to people and praying in the temple. We will request her to come here. She would have heard our voice and she may come."
Tamil Nadu state Food Minister R. Kamraj led about 100 people at the Dharma Sastha temple for a 20-minute prayer during which the idol of Hindu deity Ayyanar, a form of Lord Shiva, was washed with milk and decked with flowers by the priest.
He chanted hymns after lighting oil lamps, and the villagers bowed their heads in respect.
"Kamala Harris is the daughter of our village," said village councillor Aulmozhi Sudhakar.
"From children to senior citizens, each one of us is awaiting the day she will take the oath as the vice president of the US."
There was more singing, dancing and firecrackers throughout the day in the village, where cutouts and posters wishing the vice-president elect a "grand success" adorned walls.
People congregated in groups exchanging sweets, delicacies and snacks at different spots.
Young children carrying placards with photos of the vice-president elect ran around the village.
Several politicians from nearby districts visited the village with their supporters, meeting local residents and visiting the temple. Musicians played wind and string instruments with cymbals and drums.
The village is the hometown of Ms Harris' maternal grandfather, who had moved to Chennai, the capital of Tamil Nadu state, decades ago.
Inside the temple where people have been holding special prayers, Kamala Harris' name is sculpted into a stone that lists public donations made to the temple in 2014, along with that of her grandfather who gave money decades ago.
The vice-president elect's late mother, Shyamala Gopalan, also was born in India.
She then moved to the US at the age of 19 to study at the University of California where she met fellow Donald J Harris who had moved from Jamaica.
The pair were married in the 1960s and named their daughter Kamala - Sanskrit for "lotus flower".
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi described Kamala Harris' success as pathbreaking, and a matter of immense pride not just for her relatives but also for all Indian-Americans.
"I am confident that the vibrant India-US ties will get even stronger with your support and leadership," he tweeted.
Modi had invested in President Donald Trump, who visited India in February.
Modi’s many Hindu nationalist supporters were also upset with Ms Harris when she expressed concern about Kashmir, the disputed Muslim-majority region whose statehood India’s government revoked last year.
She stood by US Rep Pramila Jayapal, a Washington state congresswoman of Indian origin, when Indian External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar refused to attend a meeting in the United States over her participation last year.
Rep Jayapal had earlier moved a resolution on the Kashmir issue critical of India in the House of Representatives.
Rights groups accuse India of human rights violations in Indian-controlled Kashmir, where insurgent groups have been fighting since 1989 for independence or merger with the portion of Kashmir controlled by Pakistan.