Gopalan Balachandran, the maternal uncle of the US' vice-president-elect Kamala Harris, has said that he and his family will be flying to America in January for the swearing-in of their family member. Kamala is the first woman to become the VP of America.

Reports say that firecrackers were set off at Thulasendrapuram village in Tamil Nadu, which is the ancestral home of Harris. There were celebrations in Delhi, too, where Kamala's family members from the mother's side are residing.

The new VP-elect is the daughter of late Shyamala Gopalan, a breast cancer specialist. "My sister would have been proud of Kamala's achievement," the uncle told the media. Shyamala died in 2009 decades after migrating to the US at the age of 19.