That day we were going to Colombo. The flight was from Chennai to Colombo (then it was Madras). As usual the flight was delayed indefinitely due to a technical snag. We booked one room and put all our baggage there and decided to go for a visit to near by area. Since we all were acquainted in shopping at Bangalore we thought it is wastage of time to go inside Chennai. So we decided to go to Kanchipuram which is about 75 k.m from Chennai. Then we thought we should included Mahabalipuram (58km). Then we decided to go both the places as our flight was about 7-7.30 pm we had about 10hrs in our hand.     'Decisions' it is such a crucial thing as future is very hard to predict as no body has seen that unforeseen future. We booked a car from Chennai airport. From airport we headed for Kanchipuram. Kanchipuram is a small, rural town about 75-km from Chennai in the state of Tamil Nadu.. On our way we saw Sri Perumbudure where our former Prime Minister Sri Rajiv Gandhi got assassinated by the LTTE. In a hours time we reached Kanchipuram. Kanchipuram is like an abode of south Indian temple structure because of magnificent temples of unique architectural beauty bearing eloquent testimony to its glorious Dravidian heritage. Where ever you see you see different shapes of that Dravidian style temple structure.     Kanchipuram is known as one of India's Seven Sacred cities. It is the City of a thousand temples, the capital of the Pallavas, the Cholas and the Rayas of Vijayanagar. During the 6th and 7th centuries, the Pallavas built some of the best temples in the city. The city was also a great seat of learning. Sri Sankaracharya, Appar, Siruthonder and the great Budddhist Bhikku lived, and worked With the Sankara Mutt acting as the hub of Hindu activities and the temples, Kanchipuram is one of the most highly visited, and can rightfully be called the " Religious Capital of SouthIndia".     All the religious cities in India support one of the two sects in Hinduism - Vaishnavism and Shaivism, but Kanchipuram has blended itself equally to both the sects, dividing itself into Vishnu Kanchi, surrounding the Varadaraja Temple, and Shiva Kanchi, surrounding the Ekambareshwar (also spelt as Ekambareshwa) Temple, while the Kamakshi Amman Temple stands in between as a place of Shakti worship. Kamakshi Amman Temple stands in between as a place of Shakti worship.     We first went to a temple of Kamakshi Amman Temple.India has three main cities where the Goddess Shakti is worshipped. Kanchipuram holds the most important rank among the three. In the same order, the three places are Kanchipuram, where the Goddess Kamakshi is worshipped, Madurai, where the Goddess Meenakshi is worshipped, and Kashi, where the deity is 'Visaalakshi'.     The main tower over the sanctum (Vimanam) of the temple is gold plated. Also of significance is the Golden Chariot in this temple. The Golden Chariot is taken in a procession around the temple on Friday evenings around 7.00 p.m. This temple also features an Art Gallery with pictures depicting the history of Sri Adishankaracharya and the Shankara Mutt.and .     Apart from Kamakshi temple, we went Kumara Kottam temple, Varadaraja temple, Ulahalanda , Perumal temple. Unfortunately we found all the temples closed. I don't know whether it is from ancient times or according to convenience both in Tamilnadu and in Colombo the temples are closed from 10 am to 6 p.m. Unfortunately we arrived there around 10.30/11o'clock.So even if our repeated request neither the priest nor the temple authority opened the door. So we made a bedha parikrama i.e just went around the temple .     Kanchi is also known centre of the finest silk sarees made in the country.The taxi driver was very aware that we are tourists so he took us to the silk saree shop. It was a cooperative shop belongs to the weavers association. The sarees were very beautiful with all the delicate designs of Kanjiveram sarees. Since we were on our way from colombo we have got more dollars with us rather than Indian currency note. So I postponed the idea of buying one and we could not found any money changer nearby. As we were time constrained so we left for Mahabalipuram.     Mahabalipuram, located 58 km from Chennai, I read about Mahabalipuram in my history lessons. Seeing something in reality and reading about it in books is totally a different experience. Stone sculptures of Mahabalipuram and the monolithic five ratha temples are on the sea shore on the golden sands. The Temples with blue seas on its backdrop was very beautiful.     The Five Rathas are the rock-cut temples in Mahabalipuram carved in the shape of a chariot. Built during the Pallava period, the temples were buried under the sand and were founded by the British some 200 years back. The five rathas are called the Draupadi Ratha, Dharamraja Ratha, Bhima Ratha, Arjuna Ratha and Nakula-Sahadeva Ratha, named after the five Pandavas and their wife of Mahabharata. The Draupadi Ratha is dedicated to Goddess Durga. Within the temple, the goddess is shown standing on the lotus with her devotees worshipping her on their knees. The chiseled lion protects the shrine from outside. Behind the Draupadi Ratha is the Arjuna Ratha. Dedicated to Lord Shiva, temple also has the carved idol of the Nandi Bull, Shiva's Mount. Many gods and goddesses are carved on the exterior wall of the temple. Bhima Ratha is dedicated to Lord Vishnu. The idol of Vishnu in Seshashyai Mudra is within the walls of the temple. Dharamraja Ratha is the tallest and farthest of all the temples. You can see the images of several gods on the walls of the temple including Surya and Indra. Nakula-Sahadeva Ratha is dedicated to Lord Indra. A finely sculpted elephant, symbolic representation of his mount, is near the temple.     Arjuna's Penance is a relief carving on the huge rock measuring 30 m X 12 m. The themes of carvings are the animals, gods and demi-gods along with famous legendry tales from Hindu classical Panchatantra books. The massive upright crevice bifurcates the rock panel and is proficiently included into the sculpture with water flowing down the crevice originally representative of holy River Ganga.     Here I found a boy selling a few small Ganesh idols. The striking feature in these idols were they are either freely standing or sitting posture and all of them had got distinct free hands and legs which appealed me a lot. I bought one of them-a very tiny of about 3 to 4 inch tall idol. The idol was so cute I could not stop hugging it. My husband started teasing me for that. With lots of laughter and fun we returned from there.     On our way to Chennai in the middle of the high way the axle of the taxi developed some problem. The driver tried his level best to get it done but failed to do so. We tried to stop the bus, the passers by vehicles, taxies even we requested the truck drivers to give us lift. But no body gave us Lift. We waited and waited for about 2 hours. Neither the taxi got repaired nor did we get another vehicle to reach airport. In the meanwhile a van generous enough to give us lift. As we boarded it we told him about our flight and told him that we were left about one hour in hand to catch the flight. I thought we will manage to catch the flight. The van driver could feel our sentiment as common man in Chennai does not understand Hindi or English. But he could make out our urgency. So he suggested a short cut to reach Airport. My goodness, what a horrible route he suggested. We just kept on rocking shaking inside the van. The only thing I was doing was praying god and literally 1000 and one time I must had been to the airport in my imagination. Not to say rest of us were equally in that frantic state. 1000 and one time I must had been to the airport in my imagination. Not to say rest of us were equally in that frantic state .     After a good 2hr ride we reached in the outskirt of Chennai. Now to enter we need to cross a level crossing. If I had wings then I would have flown in one breath to the flight. But alas we were such wingless creatures....a small pawn in the hands of that almighty may the almighty who I was cradling in my arms from Mahabalipuram to till that time!     As we were about to cross the level crossing suddenly the gate got closed for which we had to wait……not one or two minutes……….its about 20 minutes flat……And about 10-12 trains passed in that time. All of us still thought to make it. Our van ran…ran to its full speed. We saw the Airport in the horizon. We approached nearer and nearer and we felt we made it. Our van stopped and we heard the taking off of a flight .From the backdrop of airport a huge flight rose blinking its purple violet green blue lights and bidding goodbye. I said, look our plane is above our head. Least to speak for a while we felt so drained that we could not move an inch for minutes together.     As all of us had only dollars so in our own country we bought tickets in Us dollar and paid more money to buy the same ticket again. Thanks to the credit cards, debit cards and thanks to that tiny gadget called mobile phone. If all these would have at that time this write up would have completely different