Kamala Harris was inspired by her progressive

Indian grandfather
By Los Angeles Times, adapted by Newsela staff on 05.10.21
Word Count 1,169
Level 1140L

Image 1. Vice President Kamala Harris in March 2018. In 2021, Harris became the first Black and South Asian woman to hold the position of
vice president of the United States. Photo: Wikimedia Commons/Office of Senator Kamala Harris.

Around the age of 5, future vice president Kamala Harris regularly spent time in the late 1960s at a
house in Lusaka, Zambia. In 1964, Zambia had recently become independent from the United
Kingdom. Although Kamala grew up in Berkeley, California, the house belonged to her mother's
father, an Indian civil servant named P.V. Gopalan.

The Indian government had sent Gopalan to help Zambia manage the flow of refugees from
Rhodesia (now called Zimbabwe). Rhodesia had just declared independence from Britain. For
Gopalan, the assignment was the high point of a four-decade career that began when he joined
government service fresh out of college in the 1930s, in the final years of British rule in India.

It was also the start of a relationship that would define Harris's life. Until his death in 1998,
Gopalan remained a pen pal and guiding influence who helped kindle Harris's interest in public
service.

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"My grandfather was really one of my favorite people in my world," said Harris. In 2021, Harris
became the first Black and South Asian woman to be vice president of the United States.

Harris Was Taught To Help Others

Harris often mentions her late mother, Shyamala, who worked as a breast cancer researcher, as
having taught her to strive for excellence and to help others. These were principles Shyamala
inherited from Gopalan and her mother, Rajam. In 1958, Shyamala surprised her parents by
applying for a master's program at UC Berkeley in California.

She was 19, the eldest of their four children, and had never set foot outside India. Her parents dug
into Gopalan's retirement savings to pay her tuition and living costs for the first year.

"It was a big deal," said Harris's uncle G. Balachandran, a 79-year-old academic in New Delhi. "At
that time, the number of unmarried Indian women who had gone to the States for graduate studies
was probably in the low double digits. But my father said, 'If you get admission, you go.'"

It sounds today like a classic immigrant tale, but Harris's grandparents' broad-minded values were
uncommon for Indian society of that time. Gopalan was a Brahmin, which is at the top of the
ancient Hindu caste system in Indian society. Brahmins are a privileged elite group who have
access to many work and educational opportunities not available to groups in lower castes.
Women from well-off families like Gopalan's were not expected to work at all.

"They were extremely progressive," Harris said of her grandparents.

Gopalan's Early Life In India

Gopalan was born in 1911 in Painganadu, a village about 180 miles south of Chennai, a city then
known as Madras. His marriage to Rajam was arranged by their parents.

Gopalan worked for the government, and moved the family from New Delhi to Mumbai and then
to Kolkata as he climbed the ranks of the civil service.

In her 2019 book, "The Truths We Hold," Harris wrote that Gopalan had been part of India's
independence movement. However, family members said there was no record of him having been
anything other than a hardworking civil servant. Had he openly called for ending British rule, he
would have been fired, Balachandran said.

The children, who were mainly raised by Rajam, were all good students. Shyamala first studied
home science at Lady Irwin College in New Delhi. Her courses covered nutrition, textiles and
childhood development, and mainly trained students for lives as homemakers. However, her
father thought this kind of schooling was beneath her and felt she should aim higher.

Shyamala's Life In Berkeley, California

Shyamala eventually left to study nutrition and endocrinology at Berkeley, where she earned a
Ph.D. At the time, most Indian households didn't have phone lines, so Shyamala and her family
stayed in touch through letters between India and California.

In Berkeley, Shyamala joined the Black civil rights movement, through which she met a brilliant
Jamaican economics student named Donald Harris. She and Harris married in 1963 and later had
two daughters, Kamala and Maya. Her marriage marked an even greater challenge to Indian

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convention than her career, especially because she didn't introduce her husband to her parents
beforehand.

Donald Harris's race wasn't an issue for Shyamala's

parents, Balachandran said, but "the fact that she
didn't marry in India might have upset them, and the
fact that it was someone they didn't meet."

A few years later, when Kamala was 5, Shyamala and

Donald brought their daughters to Zambia. They
stayed at Gopalan's house, which was always busy, as
Zambian officials and diplomats were constantly
stopping by to discuss various important matters.

Harris's Visits To India

Shyamala divorced Donald in the early 1970s. After that, she often brought her daughters back to
India, usually to Chennai, where her parents settled after Gopalan retired. As the eldest
grandchild, Kamala sometimes tagged along on Gopalan's walks with his retiree buddies, soaking
up their debates about building democracy and fighting corruption in India.

"My grandfather felt very strongly about the importance of defending civil rights and fighting for
equality" and honesty in government, Harris said. "I just remember them always talking about the
people who were corrupt versus the people who were real servants."

Gopalan was a loving grandfather to Kamala. For example, if Kamala misbehaved, he would take
her into another room and pretend to punish her before reemerging to tell Shyamala, "I handled
it."

"You Are Indian; You Are Black"

Harris wore traditional Indian dresses known as saris for family events and spoke a few Tamil
phrases with her relatives. Shyamala was determined that her girls remain connected to India. At
the same time, she fully understood — as Harris wrote in her book — "that she was raising two
Black daughters" in an America that would see them as Black.

"There was never a question that they were Indian," said Kamala's cousin Sharada Balachandran
Orihuela — but at the same time, there also was never any question that they were Black. "She told
the girls, 'You are Indian; you are Black. You don't have to prove that you're one or the other.'"

Balachandran Orihuela lived with Shyamala while she was going to college and recalled having
long conversations about race after the September 11, 2001, attacks. After 9/11, many Muslim
Americans, people of Middle Eastern heritage and Sikhs became targets of unfair prejudice and
discrimination. If anyone asked where she was from, Shyamala told her to answer: "None of your
business."

Shyamala died of cancer in 2009, at the age of 70. Today, Balachandran Orihuela says she sees
glimmers of her aunt's intensity and focus, as well as her warmth, in Harris.

As for Gopalan, he passed away in 1998, at the age of 86. Harris, who visited her grandfather two
weeks before his death, still thinks of him often and continues to remember him with great

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fondness.

This article is available at 5 reading levels at https://newsela.com.

Quiz

1 With which answer choice would Kamala Harris's mother, Shyamala, MOST likely agree? Which selection from the article
supports your response?

(A) School in India was exciting and inspirational; "Shyamala first studied home science at Lady Irwin
College in New Delhi. Her courses covered nutrition, textiles and childhood development, and mainly
trained students for lives as homemakers."

(B) Young people should always get their parents' permission to marry; "She and Harris married in 1963
and later had two daughters, Kamala and Maya. Her marriage marked an even greater challenge to
Indian convention than her career, especially because she didn't introduce her husband to her parents
beforehand."

(C) Children should be taught to embrace all aspects of their identity; "There was never a question that they
were Indian," said Kamala's cousin Sharada Balachandran Orihuela — but at the same time, there also
was never any question that they were Black. "She told the girls, 'You are Indian; you are Black. You
don't have to prove that you're one or the other.'"

(D) People must hide certain aspects of their heritage from the world; "Balachandran Orihuela lived with
Shyamala while she was going to college and recalled having long conversations about race after the
September 11, 2001, attacks. After 9/11, many Muslim Americans, people of Middle Eastern heritage
and Sikhs became targets of unfair prejudice and discrimination."

2 Read the following paragraph from the Introduction [paragraphs 1-4].

It was also the start of a relationship that would define Harris's life. Until his death in 1998,
Gopalan remained a pen pal and guiding influence who helped kindle Harris's interest in public
service.

Which selection from the article BEST supports the idea that P.V. Gopalan greatly influenced Kamala Harris's views of
government?

(A) Rhodesia had just declared independence from Britain. For Gopalan, the assignment was the high point
of a four-decade career that began when he joined government service fresh out of college in the
1930s, in the final years of British rule in India.

(B) Gopalan was a Brahmin, which is at the top of the ancient Hindu caste system in Indian society.
Brahmins are a privileged elite group who have access to many work and educational opportunities not
available to groups in lower castes. Women from well-off families like Gopalan's were not expected to
work at all.

(C) In her 2019 book, "The Truths We Hold," Harris wrote that Gopalan had been part of India's
independence movement. However, family members said there was no record of him having been
anything other than a hardworking civil servant. Had he openly called for ending British rule, he would
have been fired, Balachandran said.

(D) "My grandfather felt very strongly about the importance of defending civil rights and fighting for equality"
and honesty in government, Harris said. "I just remember them always talking about the people who
were corrupt versus the people who were real servants."

3 How does the author develop the central idea of the article?

(A) by exploring the differences between Kamala Harris's family traditions in India and those in America

(B) by describing the relationship between Kamala Harris's parents after they met and married in California

(C) by providing anecdotes that emphasize the progressive views of Kamala Harris's mother and
grandfather

(D) by including quotes about the challenges that Kamala Harris's grandfather faced opposing British rule in
India

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4 Which statement would be MOST important to include in an objective summary of the article?

(A) P.V. Gopalan moved his family from New Delhi to Mumbai to Kolkata for his civil service work.

(B) P.V. Gopalan defied convention when he encouraged Shyamala to study and work in America.

(C) Kamala Harris had many exciting adventures visiting Zambia as a young child.

(D) Kamala Harris has a busy schedule serving as vice president of the United States.

This article is available at 5 reading levels at https://newsela.com.