#Trending: Just How Desi Could US Vice President Nominee Kamala Harris Be? Twitter Tries To Guess With #YoKamalaSoIndian
On August 11, 2020, former US Vice President Joe Biden announced Kamala Harris would be his running mate for the US 2020 Presidential elections. This made the California Senator the first African American, the first Indian American, and the third woman to be chosen as a vice-presidential nominee for a major party. Of course, Indians didn’t miss the chance to boast of Kamala Devi Harris’ Indian heritage on her late mother’s side, who had migrated to the United States from India in 1959. Harris has often spoken about how she and her sister would visit her grandparents in Chennai. She has also mentioned how her grandfather, a retired Indian civil servant, with his progressive views on women’s rights, had a profound impact on her.
https://www.instagram.com/p/CDw4BBGjpvq/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link
Naturally, stories around Kamala Harris’ South-Asian heritage have been circulating ever since her nomination was in news. An old video of her and Mindy Kaling cooking some yummy Masala Dosa, a homage to their South-Indian roots, began going viral.
But recently, Twitter saw a new trend emerge, with its own hashtag— #YoKamalaSoIndian. It’s basically desi and NRI Twitter coming up with some hilarious possibilities of how ‘Indian’ Kamala Harris could probably be. According to Twitter, the trend gained momentum after news agency PTI reported that during the California attorney general election in 2010, Harris had asked her aunt in India to break coconuts for luck at a Hindu temple.
And then, once the trend took off, hilarity ensued! From talking about her parents being disappointed that she wasn’t a presidential nominee (because Asian parents want only the top spot) to jokes on how she has a plastic bag full of plastic bags and squeezes her toothpaste until the last bit is out, these jokes truly describe a desi household, no matter what part of the world we are in!
#YoKamalaSoIndian upon her nomination, Her Amma Asked: pic.twitter.com/3oqo3hzg6Q
— Tan Tri #AAPasurMardini (@Tan_Tripathi) August 17, 2020
#YoKamalaSoIndian that she matched her kundli with Biden for being his running mate.
— Abhijeet ಅಭಿಜೀತ್ 🇮🇳 (@abhijeetet) August 17, 2020
https://twitter.com/UllasPanolil/status/1295409944519307265?s=20
She has an ice cream stick-spoon from 2006 in the Nescafe bottle from 1999, in which she keeps Haldi powder.
— Padma Pillai (@lotophagus) August 17, 2020
#YoKamalaSoIndian that her fridge has 3 shrivelled up limes, 4 dried up betel leaves
— ࿗ இளையபிராட்டி 𑀓𑀼𑀦𑁆𑀢𑀯𑁃 ࿗ (@Kunthavi5) August 17, 2020
https://twitter.com/lalitha_jr/status/1295339036647686144?s=20
Puts hot rasam or sambar in ghee bottle and shakes it vigorously so that every drop of ghee is used up #YoKamalaSoIndian
— SanghiDentico🇮🇳,🚩🚩🕉️ (@priyathedentico) August 17, 2020
#YoKamalaSoIndian every month end she used to borrow one tumbler of sugar from her neighbour.
— #SaffronDalit ™(Retired) (@SaffronDalit) August 17, 2020
#YoKamalaSoIndian that she dries papad during summer on the driveway. pic.twitter.com/vAZPED8idz
— Aniruddh 🇮🇳 (@bebdoAD) August 18, 2020
Her mirror near wash basin has 15 red bindu stickers #YoKamalaSoIndian https://t.co/g5HE6fJ34I
— RVAIDYA2000 🕉️ (@rvaidya2000) August 17, 2020
#YoKamalaSoIndian
She keeps sui dhaaga in butter cookies tin. pic.twitter.com/v4vjKL7AXI— Samikshya (@schroddiescat) August 18, 2020
https://twitter.com/56TamilHindu/status/1295356955699994624?s=20
https://twitter.com/lalitha_jr/status/1295339983075569666?s=20
Latest pic of Kamala's toothpaste #YoKamalaSoIndian pic.twitter.com/3Gl6utQ0u0
— Good Guy (dard/dukh) (@gooljaar) August 17, 2020
#YoKamalaSoIndian that she combines 3 used lean soaps to make a new thick one. pic.twitter.com/4WDv2SrUsR
— Karthik🇮🇳கார்த்திக் (@jag_karthik) August 17, 2020
#YoKamalaSoIndian that she tie this on every saturday outside her home, office and under her car pic.twitter.com/UR3fxlkc9W
— #બસઆમજ 🇮🇳 (@SonalOfficially) August 18, 2020
#YoKamalaSoIndian that she has a plastic bag full of used plastic bags
— ࿗ இளையபிராட்டி 𑀓𑀼𑀦𑁆𑀢𑀯𑁃 ࿗ (@Kunthavi5) August 17, 2020
https://twitter.com/lalitha_jr/status/1295342606000328706?s=20
#YoKamalaSoIndian that she covers the TV remote with plastic.
— दिव्या (@divya_16_) August 17, 2020
#YoKamalaSoIndian that she buys gifts for her friends in the US from Giri Traders, Mylapore, during her summer visit to India
— Janani Sampath Veeravalli✍️ 🇮🇳 (@jananisampath) August 17, 2020
https://twitter.com/Shru_Krishnan/status/1295408554170490880?s=20
#YoKamalaSoIndian
She visits chennai every December and eats at Sabha canteen.— krithika sivaswamy (@krithikasivasw) August 17, 2020
https://twitter.com/lalitha_jr/status/1295339638177980417?s=20
#YoKamalaSoIndian she once forwarded "UNICEF declares Indian National anthem best in the world" WhatsApp message to Zuckerberg. https://t.co/zyYnkyhWpI
— Shaitaan Khopdi™🇮🇳 (@shaitaankhopdi) August 17, 2020
#YoKamalaSoIndian when there is no more in the ketchup bottle she puts little water, shakes and pours the watery ketchup 😄 https://t.co/GQJI5rYTCp
— ராகவ் (@bakthisaran) August 17, 2020
https://twitter.com/lalitha_jr/status/1295361239405584385?s=20
#YoKamalaSoIndian that she uses one bisleri bottle 2000 times before throwing away. pic.twitter.com/RvXVPPAxA6
— Africanist Samir 🇮🇳 (@SamirApolitical) August 18, 2020
#YoKamalaSoIndian that she doesnt remove plastic cover from the seats of her Maruti 800 she bought 5 years ago
— Erebus (@Erebus_10) August 17, 2020
She collects chilli flakes, oregano and ketchup sachets from Pizza Hut to put in Maggie at home! #YoKamalaSoIndian https://t.co/RSuXKDpNX3
— MissSunshine™ (@savvykapoor) August 17, 2020
entrance of the pentagon 2021 #YoKamalaSoIndian pic.twitter.com/4tR1N14xYq
— Vignesh Santhanam | विग्नेश संथानम 🌱 (@vigneshsan) August 18, 2020
Now look here. A lot of people think this trend is derogatory, and you know that can happen because it is Twitter. Things escalate quickly. But so far, it is has managed to just lightly, and quite accurately mock the desi habits universal amongst all Indians, and the fact that we may disown people for being too Western, but when they achieve some kind of glory, we’re quick to bask in that glory! Whether it is NASA astronauts Sunita Williams and the late Kalpana Chawla, or Kamala Harris, we’re suddenly hyper aware of their Indianness!