Owing to huge response to the computer expo in Nagpur during previous years this time the venue was shifted from the congested Ladies Club Lawns to the Kasturchand park. As you enter the Kasturchand Park its sheer size dawns upon you - 3 exhibitions going on simultaneously within its boundaries. One of them being the Comp-ex 2013 the other two are Book fair and Handicraft fair. The timing of these fairs either due to co-incidence or planned is perfect. It is when most of the families are having winter holiday hangover and the students of other towns and cities are back to their colleges and schools. RTMNU final exam is over so engineering students of the city are having free time and can afford the luxury of relaxing and going out in the warm winter sun. The 3 exhibitions are as different from each other as they could be.
The book fair has a large variety of books - novels, study books, competitive exam tutorials, hindi publications, biographies, auto-biographies, children nursery rhymes, dictionaries, binoculars, science project kits, encyclopedias ... you name it and it's there. However in my personal opinion though there is diversity in the materials in the fair the variety in each category is limited. Though children section and Hindi publication section are quite rich, a dearth is felt in novel, biography and auto biography section for adults.
My verdict : Go with your family to enjoy a good afternoon especially if you have kids.
Comp - Ex 2013 this time promised to be bigger and better. This showed in their entry fee which was hiked from Rs. 5/- to Rs. 20/- . There were definitely more number of stalls this time however the enthusiasm was lacking somewhat. There was no new technology on display which we don't already know of. Comp-ex seems to be drifting from being a technology updater and guide to Nagpurians to a commercial venture by top computer showrooms of Nagpur to advertise its products. Though there is no harm in this, however sanctity of this central India's biggest technology fair should be maintained. The basic devices and parts were on display - monitors, printers, keyboards, Laptops, CPU cabinets, hard disks, graphic cards, speakers, microphones, headphones, pen drives, cables, all-in-one screw drivers etc. There was a special attention given to networking and security given this time with many CCTVs, close circiut cameras, finger-print analyzers, security systems etc. on display.
The highlights of the expo in my view were : guest lectures, large poster printers, T - shirt printers, cup printers, 3-d monitor screens, a few stylish gaming cabinets from Zebronics, wooden speakers from Odyssey, multi-panel large screen.
My verdict : It's free time for most of us Nagpurians so enjoy the expo though you may not find it as interesting as previous ones.
