Chennai Book Fair 2011 has started today. Unlike previous years, I went right away with my dad to checkout the books.
Chief guests who declared it open were Jegathratchagan, Justice Lakshmanan and Nalli Kuppuswamy Chettiar. I didn't listen to speeches, save Jegathratchagan's. My legs were really tired after some scouting, so I took a chair in the audience and happened to hear Jegathratchagan's speech. Though not exceptional, he was far better than many others who take it rea.....l slow and bore the audience.
This year, the fair is relatively bigger. Around 640 publishers/sellers have put up shop. In many stalls, the books were still being stacked as I was going around. Also, the variety seems to be good. Among them, categories of IT, literature (mainly Tamil and English), fiction(both local and international), education, business, kids studies, social studies and religion have got a fair share of representation.
Today there were not many food/snack stalls. Also, the variety of the eatables is not as good as that of the books. One glaring drawback, I could say so, is the lack of proper arrangements. The ground even near the chief guests diaz really soggy, and there were not any index/markers to guide us to the stalls of our choice. I'm not sure if it's because this is the first day. But still, I couldn't believe the kind of lackadaisical attitude followed overall by the organizers even with dignitaries visiting in the evening.
Overall, if your goal is only the books and not the general entertainment of visiting the fair with family, friends et al, I think you'll be in for a treat.
IT guys: Checkout the post on my professional blog about the IT section of Book Fair. I've elaborated a bit on the kind of books and also listed the names of some surprise (atleast to me!) titles found.
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