A month ago I visited Velankanni, a Special Grade Panchayat Town in Nagapattinam district of Tamil Nadu in India. This place is famous for its Churches. Myriads of pilgrims visit this place. It was the time of Christmas and the town lustred with Christmas vibes.

It is winters in India during December, so the climate was pretty decent. During the summers the temperature here would be quite high and I say this because I had visited this place a few years back during the summer season.

I always wanted to see the river meet the ocean and luckily I had the chance to witness it in Velankanni. The Vellayar, a minor branch of Kaveri River discharges itself into the sea in Velankanni. There were some other people around me, who too were curious to see the river meet the sea. Together we headed towards the spot where the river met the sea.

Since the soil was loose due to erosion by the river I did not step down into the river on reaching the spot because as the erosion continues to grow in magnitude the mouth of the river widens and the flow rate too increases, and stepping into the river at such a point is quite risky and dangerous. However, some of the curious people that I mentioned earlier stepped into the river where the erosion rate was less and some among them tasted the water and exclaimed saying “The water here is sweet !!!” They were excited because just few yards away the water in the sea was saline.

If you are a geography student you mayn’t find the above paragraph to be something cool because you already know the factors affecting salinity. For the regular folks the above paragraph can be a cool thing.

Moving on, when the tides become stronger and mightier they drag the sand towards the mouth of the river and close the mouth of the river, when the tides get low the sand deposition acts as a barrier between the sea and the river. When the volume of water in the river increases this barrier is broken and the aforementioned process continues in a cyclic manner.

After witnessing the river meet the sea, I went on for shopping at the nearby stores and I found that the price for the same articles varied from store to store. In some stores I ended up paying a higher price since, I did not know the real price or intrinsic value of the articles and in some stores I bargained and got few articles for a cheaper price.

Moving on to food, very few restaurants served tasty food and I found the price to be pretty expensive. I also visited the various church canteens, the food there was pretty good and worth the money.

I also visited the museum, the walls of the museum described the various events that happened in Velankanni in chronological order and the museum also showcased the various offerings given by pilgrims and devotees.

There are two spellings to the name of this town, as per the sign boards I witnessed, I’ve used only one among them in this post.

Well folks, that was it. See you next time with a different post. Have a great day 🙂