Whatever you call it, it is a small 3 wheeled vehicle which holds the driver and 2 passengers. At least that is how many it is designed to hold. We have seen them loaded with many more, even hanging onto the roof. Today we had no more than 2 people in each one. The driver took us around pretty much the same area I had seen in the morning on the included tour, so I knew what we were seeing. Our driver did not identify anything, but some of the other drivers gave complete tours. 
We were dropped off at a temple 30 or 40 minutes before it reopened, so had time to walk around the neighborhood and see more cows. One fellow followed us for a while talking about his cow and calf, then, after we had taken several picture, asked for $10 for letting us take the pictures. I said no, firmly and walked away. I do not even know if it really was his cow!
The temples close from 12:30 until 4:00. I am not sure exactly why, but you must remove your shoes before entering and the pavement gets pretty hot. Our guide suggested that we stay on the white painted paths, and they were cooler. Pictures are not allowed in the temples and shrines, which are actually several buildings connected by walkways and open spaces. Non-Hindus are not allowed in the actual worship room, but we saw people bringing plates full of herbs and flower wreaths as an offering. All of these were gathered and placed on the alter or hung on the statues. The afternoon visit was to a temple dedicated to Vishnu, one of the three main Hindu gods.
In the morning, the temple was dedicated to the Shiva, another of the gods. I could not see much difference in the buildings, but the priests in the Vishnu temple had a stylized white and red V on their foreheads. All the priests wore a long white wrapping around their lower bodies, but were bare chested.
One of the main characteristics of Hindu temples is a tall structure covered with thousands of figures, all brightly painted. I guess that it a way of telling the story of their religion and all the gods and history.
Cows are sacred in India, so there are also statues of cows. In the area of the Vishnu temple we saw a lot of cattle wandering the streets looking for anything to eat or just lying around.
We also we got there just after the visited two Christian churches. St. Mary's, an Anglican church inside the fort area, is the oldest church building in town. We got there just after Easter service so the congregation was still there, visiting and enjoying their after church tea and snacks.
Outside the church there are gravestones of people buried there a few hundred years ago. However, trees are no respecters of graves.
The other church, St. Thomas, is a very large Roman Catholic church. The building behind the main building was the site of the original church built over the crypt where St. Thomas (Doubting Thomas) was buried. He came to India in the first century, so India has a longer tradition of Christianity than most of Europe, and certainly the USA. Only three churches in the world are built over the graves of apostles. Do you know where the other two are?
Chennai also has the longest beach in the world.
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