A Family Trip to Velankanni

Hello friends! I hope you are all fine.

Today I want to share with all of you an awesome experience that I had with my family when I was studying high school in India. Most of you may know that India is a culturally diverse country with its own heritage. In India you can find followers of all different religions starting from Hinduism, Jainism, Buddhism, Islam, Christianity etc. India is a secular country which thereby gives to citizens a full freedom of following whatever religion they like without causing any kind of hindrance to other religions and their followers. You may ask me why I am saying all these things here? It has a cause and I will explain it below. This article will deal with a trip to a famous church in my state called Tamil Nadu in India that I went with my family on. This occurred during my high school time but I'm still able to remember all the fun that I had during this trip. It was a vacation period for me and my brother when my dad took a decision of going on a trip to Velankanni as a religious and at the same time a recreational journey. Although we are not Christians we decided to go to Velankanni as for a religious journey.

The onward trip to Velnkanni was by bus. My dad bought tickets for the bus that leaves from Chennai at 10 p. m. and the next morning reaches Nagapattinam where the church is located. It was my first overnight travel by bus. There was a television inside and an old Tamil movie was displayed. As the bus reached the highways it began to move in a great speed and I was sitting near a window where the heavy wind started to make me feel cold. It happened because of the fog which is generally present at night and the great speed of the bus.

Some people in the bus were sleeping, some watching the movie and some gazing out of the window like me. As the clock ticked 12 a. m. or 1 a. m. the conductor turned off the TV to give a silent place for the people who were sleeping. In not more than 30 minutes all of the people in the bus were sleeping and I was the only one sitting with a blanket wrapped and gazing out of the window. It was pitch black outside and there were no street lights neither in the highways so all that was visible to me was some silhouettes of places we passed by. At times illuminated motels appeard on our way and I was just observing them as I was not getting any sleep in the bus. The vehicule crossed some important districts of Tamil Nadu before reaching Nagapattinam.

Early in the morning, at 4 o'clock, the bus stopped in a small hotel for a small tea break for the passengers as they could refresh themselves. The bus reached Nagapattinam at 5 o'clock in the morning but we were still not at Velankanni, but just in Nagapattinam. We had to take on another local bus that would take us from Nagapattinam main bus station to Velankanni. It was quite small but it went quickly through the roads of Nagapattinam till we reached Velankanni. As we got out of the bus there was a person in the bus stop who said that he would show us a place to stay and he took us to a small guest house.

Since the room was a big one, it was enough for four people. We were inside it at 6 o'clock in the morning. Since I didn't sleep in the bus as soon as I reached the "home" I was the first person to jump into a bed and to fall asleep. I had a sound sleep till 10 o'clock in the morning after that my mom woke me up to get ready as we had to go out to explore Velankanni.

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This church was built especially for Virgin Mary and it is called "Lourdes of the East" or "Our Lady Of Good Health" by the people. There is a strong reason for this name which I will explain you a little later. We got ready and left our guest house to visit the church. It was a long street to walk. As Velankanni is on the shores of the mighty Bay of Bengal, cold sea breeze can be felt anytime. As we walked down the streets we were able to see the towers of the church from a distance. The Velankanni church was constructed in a gothic style approximately 600 years ago. The first church we could see from a distance was a bit round.

Before beginning with the architecture and beauty of the Velankanni church I want to share with you the entire story behind the name given to the church. It is because of series of three events that took place in the 16th century.

The first event is connected with a Hindu boy who sold milk. He was sitting under a tree to take a rest near a pond. At that time Virgin Mary appeared and asked him for some milk. The boy unable to believe this miracle gave her some milk. When he went to his customer's home, he gave to the customer the milk that left over and he explained him the reason for the delay as well as the less amount of milk. When the customer opened the milk pot he was amazed because the milk pot was full. Thinking that some miracle should have occured, he asked the boy to show him where the lady appeared. The boy took him back to the same place where Virgin Mary appeared again. He was in great joy to see her and today the place where Virgin Mary appeared is called "Matha Kulam" in Tamil that 'Matha' means mother and 'Kulam' means pond.

The second event occurred when Virgin Mary appeared in front of a physically disabled boy selling buttermilk near a public place. This time Virgin Mary asked him for some buttermilk and the boy gave her a little to drink. As Virgin Mary appeared next to the boy, he was cured and physically fit. He didn't realize that he was cured as he was in an eternal bliss of seeing Virgin Mary. She asked him for informing about her appearance to a wealthy person in the village. The boy stood and began to run towards the person's house. This wealthy man also had had a dream the night before: he had seen Virgin Mary asking him to built a small chapel for her. When the boy arrived and told him about Virgin Mary's appearance, he thought that his dream was true. He rushed to the spot where Virgin Mary appeared and this time she appeared in front of both of them. The wealthy man made a small chapel at the place where she appeared and now this chapel is called Arokia Matha in Tamil or Mother of Good Health in English.

The third event took place in the mighty ocean of Bay of Bengal. A few Portuguese sailors were sailing to India and their ship wrecked due to a violent thunder storm and, so all the sailors on the board were struggling for life. Virgin Mary appeared in front of them and saved their lives from the violent storm. When they reached the shore of Velankanni they were guided by the local fishermen to the small chapel built during the second event. As a sign of gratitude and devotion they built a permanent chapel in the same place. In next years the Portuguese people developed the chapel and dedicated it to Virgin Mary on September 8th which is the day when the Portuguese sailors safely reached the shore after the violent storm. Even today you will find the highest number of visitors in this church on this day.

As we walked along the streets discussing about the history of the church we reached it's entrance which had two tall gothic towers with crosses on the top of each tower. The church was filled with crowd when we went near the entrance therefore we thought that at first we would spend some time out together and then we would come back just into the church. There is a long path made of beach sand that has numerous shops on its both sides, right opposite to the church. The area is predominantly occupied by Christians which is very easy too deduct from the shops' names. There are religious shops selling candles, wax figurines, images of Virgin Mary, Jesus Christ etc. Even from the faraway end of the street you can see the towers of the church. When we got the shops over, we were in the shore of Velankanni beach. Unlike on any other beach in Tamil Nadu we were able to see a number of goats wandering here and there. They were friendly, grateful even for feeding with anything that the visitors offered them and they were never afraid of humans, unlike normal goats.

We returned to the church to pray. Next to the bold gothic towers there is a building which is the residence of priests and also the church office. Next to that building there is a church store where candles, holy water, oil, etc. are sold. We bought some candles before going inside where is a place for burning them, beside a large dust bin with a massive amount of half burnt candles. It simply suggested one thing: there were so many people who visited this church that it was necessary to remove the candles frequently to give place to the new ones. There is a sign on the board of the main entrance which the history of the church is put in short on. Inside the church you can see beautiful paintings presenting different stories of the Jesus Christ's life. The interior is well decorated with ornaments and paintings. The main statue of Virgin Mary with Baby Jesus in her arms is located on an altar. At the top of this statue there is a picture of Jesus Christ.

After praying for a while you can move through a fenced pathway where priests will stand. You can tell them a body part you want to heal and a priest will give you a special prayer and he will offer it to Virgin Mary. There are even some traditions followed by Hindus found in the church of Velankanni.

Behind the fenced pathway there is a place where you can see many yellow strings. In this place are tied small bags with yellow strings. They are called wish bags and the women used to tie them in Hindu temples, often in a tress, praying to God for a wish. The same kind of bags is tied at Velankanni, but here the women usually ask God for good health. Once your wish is fulfilled, you must take the bag off the place.

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There is also another Hindu tradition practiced here, in this church, where married women place a locked lock which is a way of asking God to have a happy family with her husband for the lifetime. There is also a place inside the shrine where a priest accepts offering from the devotees, such as flowers, wax figures of organs etc. He puts them in a box in front of the Virgin Mary and after a short prayer he removes them and calls the next devotee to repeat the same.

On the west side of the church there is an altar that is dedicated entirely to Jesus Christ. Even the west entrance to the church has a two spires but it is not as tall as those of the main entrance on the east. There is also a concrete ramp that will lead you directly to the second floor of the church. There is also another shrine which is built in the form of a circle and on its way the numerous images depict various stories mentioned in the Bible.

There is a garden what's name is Garden of Jordan which is a beautiful garden having statues of numerous animals along with a hindu saint sitting under an umbrella. There is also a model of Jesus Christ healing the sick. This leads us into a building which contains paintings of different stories such as about Adam and Eve, how Jesus communicates with the present world and so on. There is also another temple at some distance far away from the main one. This was also constructed in the same gothic architecture which makes us believe that they were built during the same period.

After visiting all these shrines we went back to the guest house to relax. My dad bought some food for dinner in a hotel nearby and the day came to an end as we slept soon after the dinner.

The next morning we woke up early and we were happy as we were about have some fun by the sea. We all walked to the beach and we had some real fun there playing in the water. We almost spend around two hours on the beach having fun and after that we walked through the stores in the street purchasing some sea shells, corals, conches etc. There are delicious freshly caught fishes available in the markets of Velankanni and they even let cooking stoves and utensils for tourists who can cook and eat fishes in the flavor they like. We rented some utensils and a stove, we bought some fresh fishes in the market and we reached the place were we were staying. We prepared some delicious fish curry and also some vegetable gravy and after that my mom and dad prepared food packets to hand it over to the poor. We prepared like 50 packets of food which we put into a big bag which we carried with us and we gave the packets to all those who appeared to be beggars and poor. It was a nice feeling to do something good in Velankanni. This covered almost the whole day and the same night we packed our bags and we walked to the bus station as we were about to leave back to home.

The bus took us to the nearby railway station where we took a train back to Chennai. It was a whole night journey and the scenery that I was able to see from the train was much different than that I saw from the bus. The next morning we were back in Chennai Egmore railway station. We hired a cab to get back to our home and finally a beautiful journey came to the end.

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I had visited Velankanni before tsunami attack in India on the 26th of December 2004. I think it had to change a lot after that as this region suffered a heavy loss during the disaster. Thousands of lives vanished and many properties were destroyed without a trace. Despite it, this church stands still protecting people from all harm and danger. I wish to visit Velankanni one more time in the very near future. It is a beautiful place to visit in Tamil Nadu with a lovely beach, a religious place to worship and an excellent gastronomy. It is a must visit place in Tamil Nadu. Till I write my next article keep smiling and cheers. :)If you have any comments or suggestions please feel free to mention them below. Thank You for reading it patiently!