Walking by the Rocky beach promenade at Pondicherry.

Perched on the Coromondal Coast of the Bay of Bengal , Pondicherry  is an ideal weekend getaway destination  from Chennai and is visited by people from all over the world. One can saw , it's a love child of french and Indian culture.

  Pondicherry is an union territory of India after 1954...Earlier was a french colonial settlement. Its french legacy is preserved in its french quarters with tree lined streets, mustard coloured colonial villas and chic boutiques. Simply strollingdown these streets can give the travelers  an insight into the fairytale charm of Pondicherry. A seaside promenade  runs along the Bay of Bengal and passes several statues including a 4 mts high Gandhi Memorial  and also Amedkar memorial  by the promenade. Topped with authentic  french bakeries , bohemian  stores and cobbled stones pathways that r delightful for a leisurely stroll or bicycle ride ...evening r so heavenly by the beaches at Pondicherry  that everyone visiting  the place will find  it worth visiting.......

My experience:

      Though it's my 2nd  visit to this union territory of Pondicherry but I was quite excited to see the makeover of this city...Its after a gap of 20 yrs that I was visiting this city and could find so much changed look though the french colony looked the same but traffic has increased 4 fold now....I had booked a night stay at Shunbaga  hotel and convention centre which is located in the heart of the city...compared to any 4 star property , it looked quite luxurious....Basically  we were on a road from from Chennai to Rameshwaram  and Pondicherry  was a stopover on our way .....By the time we reach the city it was almost evening...after getting freshened up , we thought to hit the beach instead of sitting in the hotel room after a  day long drive across from Chennai to Pondicherry  via Mahabalipuram via ECR...

Roads in the french colonies r mostly baricatted  by night fall from vehicles  ..somehow we drove to the rocky beach parking and then started walking across ...since it was a day prior to holi , the moon dazzled the beach and the waves .....the wind touched my face and I forgot all those tiredness of a day long journey  across....clicked  few snaps as I walked down to the promenade.....seeing so many people enjoying their walk in leisure , I really felt so good at heart  ...  then stopped for dinner at a south Indian restaurant  by the promenade  before heading for the hotel as next morning  we had appointment  for a visit to the Auroville international village and Matrimandir  in the early hours......

    It had been a relaxing leisure moments by the sea under the beautiful blue sky & a full moon  and the waves & myself .....its really refreshing. 

MY FIRST VISIT TO VAILENKKANI CHURCH ( TN)

Vailenkkani Church  is called the BASILICA OF OUR LADY OF GOOD HEALTH,is a Marian Shrine , located in a small town of Vailenkkani  in TamilNadu ( South India) . Devotion to  Our Lady Of Good Health of Vailenkkani  can be traced to the mid 16th century and is attributed  to 3 separate miracles at the site surrounding  the Basilica. 

  Being a Roman catholic Marian Church , itsdedicated to our lady of Good Gealth , Virgin Mary , is depicated  wearing a Sari.

       The Basilica  is built in the Gothic style architecture  and contains 3 chapels as well Our lady's tank, church museum , Priest residence, offering centre, station of the Cross ,station of the Rosary, Shrine mega mahal and Vailenkkani  beach .

My experience: 

  Basically  I was on a round road trip from Chennai onto Rameshwaram via Pondicherry   and then from Rameshwaram to Madurai onto chennai  from 7th March'20....Vailenkkani  visit was not in my itenary also ...As we were driving from Pondicherry  to Rameshwaram  on ECR ie East Coast Road , while we were near to Cuddalore, my vehicle driver asked  me  , whether I am interested to visit Vailenkkani Church  as we will be crossing over Vailenkkani in a while 's time ....I had earlier never been to Vailenkkani  though explored TamilNadu quite a bit long years ago ....I simply couldnt resist  the temptation  to see that beautiful  church about which I heard a lot before ......... it was around 1 pm when we entered Vailenkkani  town....The town is full of churches everywhere  and finally it's the Basilica....simply WOW!!! . ..I have earlier seen the Cathedral at Goa  but this was simply huge and I was awestruck  by its first glance  .....my driver dropped me at the parking and I felt that this town is getting a makeover as lots of construction  work on here and there ...  then as I entered the premise of the Basilica   , its gothic  style architecture  got me on my knees .....I kept framing each and every corner of this beautiful  building  in my lens ...against the blue sky this white building  looked picture perfect ....Since it was sunday , mass was on at the prayer hall and I took this opportunity  to pray a while there before I left for a walk upto the Vailenkkani beach  thru' the market place while was bit clumsy.. Even the beach was pretty crowded and I simply didnt feel like going into the waters instead enjoyed icecream standing by the beach side.....being a tourist place , I was thinking that their must be lot of restaurant  but it's not the case ...I simply failed to eat the Veg thalli at the church canteen ...though rice was good quality but the vegs didnt go good to my taste and I had to push back to my vehicle instead to head for Rameshwaram...