In addition to the statutory warning on the extremely hot weather – some places to visit when you are in Chennai include Spencer Plaza (shoppers paradise!) which is in the heart of the city. And there’s “Mayajaal” which is a short drive from the city and home to multiplexes (watch the “local Chennai” movie fare as well as English movies), shopping arcades, video game parlors etc.

Over a weekend you may also want to visit Mahabalipuram (about an hour’s drive from Chennai) which houses several historic monuments near the beach and Pondicherry (about 3 hours drive from Chennai) which is home to “Auroville”.

Here are some links,

http://www.chennaionline.com/
http://www.mayajaal.com/
http://www.chennaionline.com/toursntravel/placesofinterest/spencer.asp
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mahabalipuram
http://www.auroville.org/