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...