Regional Contest Cookbook

About ACM ICPC

Mission: ACM International Collegiate Programming Contest (ICPC) provides college

students with opportunities to interact with students from other universities and to sharpen

and demonstrate their problem-solving, programming, and teamwork skills. The contest

provides a platform for ACM, industry, and academia to encourage and focus public

attention on the next generation of computing professionals as they pursue excellence.

About the Contest

The ACM International Collegiate Programming Contest (ICPC) traces its roots to a

competition held at Texas A&M in 1970 hosted by the Alpha Chapter of the UPE Computer

Science Honor Society. The idea quickly gained popularity within the United States and

Canada as an innovative initiative to challenge the top students in the emerging field of

computer science.

The contest evolved into a multi-tier competition with the first Finals held at the ACM

Computer Science Conference in 1977. Operating under the auspices of ACM and

headquartered at Baylor

University since 1989, the contest has expanded into a global network of universities

hosting regional competitions that advance teams to the ACM-ICPC World Finals. Since IBM

became sponsor in 1997, the contest has increased by a factor of eight. Participation has

grown to involve several tens of thousands of the finest students and faculty in computing

disciplines at 1,821 universities from 83 countries on six continents. The contest fosters

creativity, teamwork, and innovation in building new software programs, and enables

students to test their ability to perform under pressure. Quite simply, it is the oldest,

largest, and most prestigious programming contest in the world.

The annual event is comprised of several levels of competition:

• Local Contests – Universities choose teams or hold local contests to select one or more

teams to represent them at the next level of competition. Selection takes place from a field

of over 300,000 students in computing disciplines worldwide.

• Regional Contests (September to December 2008) – Last year, participation increased by

10% from 6,099 to 6,700 teams representing 1,821 universities from 83 countries on six

continents, not counting numerous teams competing in preliminaries.

• World Finals (April 18-22, 2009, Stockholm, Sweden) – One hundred (100) world finalist

teams will compete for awards, prizes and bragging rights in Stockholm hosted by KTH –

Royal Institute of Technology. These teams represent the best of the finest universities on

six continents - the cream of the crop.

Battle of the Brains: The contest pits teams of three university students against eight or

more complex, real-world problems, with a grueling five-hour deadline. Huddled around a

single computer, competitors race against the clock in a battle of logic, strategy and mental

endurance.

Teammates collaborate to rank the difficulty of the problems, deduce the requirements,

design test beds, and build software systems that solve the problems under the intense

scrutiny of expert judges. Judging is relentlessly strict. The students are given a problem

statement – not a requirements document. They are given an example of test data, but

they do not have access to the judges’ test data and acceptance criteria. Each incorrect

solution submitted is assessed a time penalty. You don’t want to waste your customer’s

time when you are dealing with the supreme court of computing. The team that solves the

most problems in the fewest attempts in the least cumulative time is declared the winner.

About ACM

The Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) is a major force in advancing the skills of

information technology professionals and students. ACM serves its global membership of

80,000 by delivering cutting edge technical information and transferring ideas from theory

to practice. ACM hosts the computing industry’s leading Portal to Computing Literature. With

its journals and magazines, special interest groups, conferences, workshops, electronic

forums, Career Resource Centre and Professional Development Centre, ACM is a primary

resource to the information technology field. For more information, see

http://www.acm.org.

IBM’s Commitment

IBM’s sponsorship commitment to the ACM International Collegiate Programming Contest is

part of a company-wide effort to advance the next generation of computer scientists. For

more information about other IBM college initiatives, please visit the IBM/ACM contest Web

site and click on the Student Portal button – http://www.ibm.com/university/acmcontest/

and also follow the contest podcast series at http://battleofthebrains.podbean.com/.

About IBM

IBM is the world's largest information technology company, with 80 years of leadership in

helping businesses innovate. IBM software offers the widest range of e-business

infrastructure software for all types of computing platforms, allowing customers to take full

advantage of the new era of e-business. The fastest way to get more information about IBM

software is through the IBM home page at http://www.software.ibm.com.

ICPC 2007 Regionals @ Amritapuri Campus

The 32nd Annual ACM International Collegiate Programming Contest - Asia Region Amritapuri

was held at Amritapuri Campus of Amrita University on 21 - 22 December 2007. Total 48

teams participated in the contest out of 54 selected teams from the Online Contest

conducted in November 2007. Right amount of fun, entertainment and practice sessions

were arranged for the contestants. Right from 19th of December, pick up from the railway

station / airport was arranged for all the teams who had requested for. A student talk on

"Preparation for Success in Programming Contests"was given by Prasanna, final year CSE

student from National Institute of Technology, Trichy. He is one among the winners team in

2006 regionals. He has attended the 2006 world finals at Tokyo. It was a good interactive

session with the contestants on 20th evening. The inaugural ceremony was conducted by

lighting the lamp. A brief inaugural talk was given by Prof. Vallath Nandakumar, who is the

Regional Contest Director of Asia Region, Amritapuri contest site. Two live practice sessions

were given for the contestants on 21st December. The judges included people from State

University of Buffalo at New York, Ramaiah College, Bangalore, Amrita Technologies, Kochi

and also from Amrita University. Contest started on time at 08:00 AM on 22nd of December

and ended at 01:00 PM. There were 7 problems posted and the Taiwan team - Colorful Bee

were the first to solve 6 problems in the given time. The “SilasticArmorFriends” team of

Chennai Mathematical Institute won the second place by solving same number of problems,

but in more time. Boat cruise across Kerala backwaters was also arranged as part of

entertainment. A 40 minute cultural programme was performed by the students of Amrita

University, Amritapuri Campus on 20th evening. It was followed by a banquet dinner

arranged in the garden lawn of the universtiy campus. On the day of the contest, the

Kalarippayattu, martial arts was performed by the professional team from the state of

Kerala.

2007 ACM ICPC Amritapuri Site Champions

Team Name: Colorful Bee

Instution: Taiwan University

Coach: Pu-Jen Cheng Team members: Peng-Jen Chen, Tien-Jung Chuang, Tien-Ren Chen

About Amrita University

Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham – is a University, established under section 3 of the University

Grants Commission (UGC) Act of 1956.

Drawing its inspiration, guidance, nourishment, energy, and resources directly from Amma

– Sri Mata Amritanandamayi Devi, our Chancellor, AMRITA Vishwa Vidyapeetham has now

grown into a dynamic, 5-campus, multi-disciplinary, University with over 15 schools, 100

degree programs, 1500 faculty, and 12,000 students, all united in their mission towards

solving the monumental scientific and societal challenges being faced by the world today.

Amrita campuses have transformed the cluster of rural villages surrounding them into a

vibrant landscape with significant education (starting from primary to higher secondary

schools – about 60 schools called Amrita Vidyalayams all over India) and employment,

thereby uplifting the entire region. In December of 2006, a six-crore bridge of Alappad to

mainland Kerala was commissioned by the Math. Amrita’s nation-wide network of village

resource centers launched by India’s President, makes it possible for school children and

communities from eight different villages to simultaneously interact over high bandwidth

interactive (two-way) audio and video communication with experts from Amrita University

and Amrita Institute of Medical Sciences. Several prominent multinational corporations such

as Hewlett Packard, Microsoft, Intel, Cisco, Cognizant, Oracle, Dhanalakshmi Bank, Infosys,

also invested significantly here at AMRITA towards developing information and

communication technologies for India's vast rural population.

Amrita University, under the direction of its parent organization, Mata Amritanandamayi

Math, has also been in the forefront of societal relief and help. After rushing to contribute

significantly towards relief and reconstruction in Kerala and Tamil immediately following the

Tsunami of December 2004, Amrita hosted a day-long round-table on technologies for

disaster warning and management with representatives from ISRO, leading industries such

as Fujitsu, and Stanford University. Mata Amritanandamayi Math also became the first

organization to hand over fully built best of breed houses, thousands in number, to Tsunami

affected populations of Kerala, Tamil Nadu, and even as far as Sri Lanka. Even as far as the

American Continent, Mata Amritanandamayi Math gave USD 1 Million for Katrina Relief

directly to the Bush-Clinton fund. During this time, Amrita TV, now regarded as a highly

rated channel in India but with a global reach, joined the larger Amrita family of institutions

and services.

Our Chancellor and inspiration

"Everyone in the world should be able to sleep without fear, at

least for one night. Everyone should be able to eat to his fill, at

least for one day. There should be at least one day when hospitals

see no one admitted due to violence. By doing selfless service for

at least one day, everyone should help the poor and needy. It is

Amma's prayer that at least this small dream be realised." —

Mata Amritanandamayi Devi

Sri Mata Amritanandamayi Devi – or affectionately called AMMA all over the world,

Chancellor of Amrita University – is today a household name in almost all parts of the world

– as an internationally-renowned humanitarian leader and an embodiment of global-scale

effort to lead the society from ignorance to knowledge & awareness, from unrighteousness

to human values, and from ill-health to health. It is from AMMA that “Amrita Vishwa

Vidyapeetham”, which in Sanskrit translates to “Amrita University”, is born in the year

2003.

Through Her extraordinary acts of love & self and self-sacrifice, Mata Amritanandamayi Devi

or AMMA, as She is known as endeared Herself to millions of people around the world.

Tenderly caressing everyone who comes to Her, holding them close to Her heard in a loving

embrace, Amma shares Her boundless love with all - regardless of their beliefs, who they

are or why they have come to Her. In this simple yet powerful way, Amma is transforming

the lives of countless people, helping their hearts to blossom one embrace at a time. Her

tireless spirit of dedication of uplifting others has inspired a vast network of charitable

activities through which people are discovering the sense of peace that comes from

selflessly serving others.

Amritapuri Campus of Amrita University

Amritapuri Campus of Amrita University, with its proximity to the international

headquarters of Mata Amritanandamayi Math, has the advantage of basking in the

effulgent presence of Amma’s grace; and it helps the students from geographically

diverse locations to develop a sense of belonging to a supportive community. Seeking

guidance and inspiration from its Chancellor - Satguru Mata Amritanandamayi Devi, the

campus instills hope and confidence in the students to set their own pace, place and

time.

Amritapuri Campus, having a global environment with its national and international

students, is committed to generate, disseminate and preserve knowledge. We seek to

develop in each member the ability and passion to work wisely, creatively and effectively

for the betterment of the humankind. The campus, though located in a remote village

blessed with panoramic backwater expanse and tiny glistening brooks on one side and

the mighty sea on the other side, provides all the modern amenities which help the

students to make their campus life a memorable one. With everything from yoga classes

to the full fledged cafeteria, the students can have fun in addition to a first rate

university education. The life in the campus can be exciting, stimulating, demanding,

challenging and sometimes even down-right hard work. There are four schools on the

campus – Arts & Sciences, Ayurveda, Biotechnology & Engineering. Students excel at

Amritapuri campus by utilizing the resources to the maximum extent possible. Their

active participation in national level technical festivals conducted by other colleges and

university campuses keep themselves upto date in recent technologies. They bag awards

and prizes in IEEE and ACM student competitions conducted by other Amrita campuses

as well as in the competitions conducted by other universities. Amritapuri campus of

Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham was one of the top 3 universities rated by IBM in 2008 for

the student participation in their competition called "Great Mind Challenge". Students

from School of Engineering at Amritapuri Campus were the first to fix maximum number

of bugs in the Sun Solaris operating system. Only one Microsoft Ambassador in the state

of Kerala is from School of Engineering, Amritapuri Campus of Amrita Vishwa

Vidyapeetham. Senior students from computer science & applications, together with the

expert judges from Amrita and other institutions managed the Contest Environment of

ACM International Collegiate Programming Contest Regionals held in December 2007.

Important information/contacts for the Onsite Coaches / Contestants of

2008 ACM ICPC Regionals

1. General Queries: Anand Shenoy ammasanand@amritapuri.amrita.edu Ph: +91 9447057140

Binu P K binu@amritapuri.amrita.edu Ph: +91 9745036226

2. Transportation : Please send your travel plans to Darsana D darsanad@amritapuri.amrita.edu Ph: +91 9495959396

Neelima K M neelimakm@amritapuri.amrita.edu. +91 9895939608

Pick up is arranged from Kayamkulam and Karunagappally railway stations.

Contestants / Coaches arriving at other stations will have to come by their own.

Assistance would be given by the above mentioned people.

The plan should have:

a. Date or arrival

b. Time of arrival

c. Place of arrival

d. Coach accompanied / not

e. Number of Contestants

f. Reserve, if any

g. Additional people, if any

h. Number of Male / Female

i. Stay (Hostel / Hotel: Normal hostel stay is provided; one room for one team

and to coaches in one room. Those who wish to stay outside the campus may

have to stay at their own expense. Nearest hotel:

http://www.hotelcomfortregency.com)

j. Date of departure

k. Time of departure

l. Place of departure

m. Whether planning for excursion (if yes, how many of your team?)

3. For accommodation enquiries, contact

Nidheesh M nidheesh@amritapuri.amrita.edu Ph: +91 9745330909

Prof. A R G Menon gopalakrishna@amritapuri.amrita.edu Ph: 9447639100

4. Contest Environment / Rules (including Practice Sessions)

Vallath Nandakumar nandakumar@amritapuri.amrita.edu Ph: +91

Anish Chandran anishchandran@amritapuri.amrita.edu Ph: +91 9995407801

Jayakumar P jayakumar@amritapuri.amrita.edu

5. Certificates, Awards Archana K Rajan archanakr@amritapuri.amrita.edu Ph: +91 9946324040

Tentative Contest Schedule

Day 1, December 4, 2008 Day 2, December 5, 2008

Arrival of the teams

Early Registration

Lunch

Tea

Dinner

Yoga / Meditation Practice

Breakfast

Late Registration

Opening Ceremony

Video Show

Practice Session – 1

Lunch

Boat Cruise

Entertainment

Banquet Dinner

Practice Session - 2

Day 3, December 6, 2008 Day 4, December 7, 2008

Breakfast

ACM ICPC 2008 Regional Contest

Lunch

Talks / Seminar by IBM / Infosys

Award Ceremony

Dinner

Breakfast

Excursion to Thenmala (Optional)

Dinner

Contest Rules & Environment

• The following programming languages are available to each team:

o Java

o C

o C++

• The reference programming language of the contest is C++. The Jury has a solution

for every contest problem in the reference programming language. All provided

programming languages are generic enough, so that any problem can be solved in

any programming language.

• The Contest Management System used is Mooshak.

• For this contest the analyzer accepts the following languages and uses the following

compilers:

Language Compiler Version Command line Extension

C gcc 4.1.2 gcc -Wall -lm <filename.c> .c

C++ gcc 4.1.2 g++ -Wall <filename.cpp> .cpp

Java javac jdk6.0 javac -g:none -Xlint <filename.java> .java

Conduct of the contest

• The contest lasts 5 hours. The contest can be lengthened in case of unforeseen

difficulties. Should the contest duration be altered, every attempt will be made to

notify contestants in a timely and uniform manner.

• During the contest each team uses a single provided computer. Each team will have

a home directory to work, which is unreachable for other teams.

• During the contest, Contestants may communicate ONLY with members of his/her

team, the Jury and the Support Staff.

• Contestants may bring and use unannotated natural language dictionaries (except

electronic ones), blank sheets of paper and instruments for writing ONLY.

Contestants MAY NOT bring and use any books (except dictionaries), reference

manuals, electronic dictionaries, program listings, any machine-readable information

(software or data on any kind of storage), computing devices (handhelds, portable

PCs, notebooks, calculator), mobile phones or any other communication devices.

• At least 8 (eight) and at most 10 (ten) problems will be proposed for solution. As far

as possible, problems will avoid dependence on detailed knowledge of a particular

applications area or particular contest language.

• During the contest, teams solve proposed problems. A solution is a program (single

source file, not executable) on one of allowed programming languages. Different

problems may be solved using different programming languages.

• Solutions are submitted for judging during the contest using the contest software.

Solutions to problems that were submitted for judging are called runs. Immediately

after submission of any run, the team may continue to work on other problems.

• Runs are NOT allowed to:

o access the network;

o work with any files except those explicitly specified in the problem statement;

o attack system security;

o execute other programs and create new processes;

o change file system permissions;

o work with subdirectories;

o create or manipulate any GUI items (windows, dialog boxes, etc);

o work with external devices (sound, printer, etc);

o do anything else that can stir the evaluating process and the contest.

The contest software uses different methods to reveal violations of the above

restrictions.

• A team may be disqualified by the Jury for any activity that violates contest rules or

jeopardizes the contest such as dislodging extension cords, unauthorized

modification of contest materials, distracting behavior.

• During the contest the contestants can make clarification requests on the problem

statements. The clarification request must exactly identify the part of the problems

statement that the team considers ambiguous together with the possible

interpretations. The Jury encourages contestants to use the sample input and output

for resolving (apparent) ambiguities.

• When the Jury responds to the clarification request, the team receives its

"Clarification Request" with the answer. If the clarification request is incorrect or the

answer is clear from the problem description, the Jury answers "No comments". If

the Jury agrees that there is an ambiguity or error in the problem statement, a

clarification will be issued to all teams.

Run Evaluation

• Each run is judged as accepted or rejected.

• The run is evaluated by executing it on a secret set of tests, common for all teams. A

run is accepted, only if it gives correct answers to all tests.

• Evaluation is performed automatically, that is why a program should respect formats

of input and output files described in the problem statement. If not explicitly stated

otherwise, all input data are considered to be correct and satisfying all restrictions

from the problem statement

• The time limit is the maximum execution time for the set of test.

• The memory limit is the maximum amount of memory that a run may utilize

• As soon as the run in evaluated, a team receives a message with the evaluation

results. This message will be shown on the screen and duplicated on a run envelope.

A team is informed whether the run is accepted or not

• The possible outcomes are listed in the following table

Outcome Test Comment Possible causes

Compilation

error No

Executable file was not

created after compilation.

Syntax error in the program; Wrong

language specified for the program.

Time limit

exceeded Yes

The program exceeded

the allowed time limit. Inefficient solution; Error in program.

Memory limit

exceeded Yes

The program exceeded

the allowed memory

limit.

Inefficient solution; Error in program.

Security

Violation Yes

The program violates the

contest rules.

Error in program; Purposeful rules

vioation (the violating team is

disqualified in this case).

Runtime error Yes

The program terminates

with non-zero exit code

or throws the uncaught

Windows exception.

Runtime error;No 'return 0' statement

in C/C++ program;'return (non-zero)'

statement in C/C++ main function;

System.exit (non-zero)' statement in

Java;

Uncaught exception.

Presentation

error Yes

The contest software can

not check output because

it does not match the

appropriate format.

Output format is not correct; No

output or wrong output file name.

Wrong answer Yes The answer is not

correct. The algorithm is not correct.

Accepted No Run is accepted. The solution is correct

• The possible outcomes in the table are listed in their order of priority. For example, if

runtime error has occured, then output is not checked.

Scoring of the contest

• The problem is considered solved by the team, if it is accepted by the contest

software and not rejected by the Jury.

• The time consumed for a solved problem is the time elapsed from the beginning of

the contest to the submission of the first accepted run for this problem (in minutes)

plus 20 minutes for every other run for this problem before the accepted one. For an

unsolved problem no time consumed is computed.

• The total time is the sum of the time consumed for each problem solved.

• Teams are ranked according to the number of solved problems. Teams that solve the

same number of problems are ranked by the least total time and, if need be, by the

earliest time of submittal of the last accepted run.

• Contestants and observers will see preliminary results of all teams during the

contest. Contestants may see the results on their computers, observers - on the

monitor outside the competition area.

• According to the traditions of the competition, to encourage interest in the award

ceremony, updating of the current information on results will be stopped half an hour

before the end of the contest.

Complaints, Appeals, and Remedies

• The Jury is solely responsible for determining the correctness of runs. Its decisions

are final and may not be appealed.

• If irregularities or misconduct are observed during the contest, team members or

coaches should bring them to the attention of the contest officials so that action may

be taken as soon as possible.

Teams for Battle of Brains 2008 at Amritapuri Site

Indian Teams

SL NO INSTITUTE TEAM NAME

1 Army Institute of Technology, Pune #define

2 National Institute of Technology,Trichy civilcoders

3 National Institute of Technology,Trichy Itzwogay

4 National Institute of Technology,Trichy LRSL

5 Indian Institute of Technology - Bombay Brahmastra

6 Indian Institute of Technology - Bombay Mumbai Coders

7 Indian Institute of Technology - Bombay Nathrazim

8 Indian Institute of Information Technology - Hyderabad BackBenchers

9 Birla Institute of Technology, Mesra, Ranchi byt_maniaC

10 Birla Institute of Technology, Mesra, Ranchi Decoders

11 Birla Institute of Technology, Mesra, Ranchi jc2p2

12 National Institute of Technology, Karnataka chaithanya

13 National Institute of Technology, Karnataka googled

14 Amrita University, Amritapuri child

15 Amrita University, Bangalore clean sweep

16 Amrita University, Amritapuri Paladins

17 Amrita University, Amritapuri RavenClaw

18 Amrita University, Ettimadai Titans2

19 Madras Institute of Technology Ckrackers

20 Madras Institute of Technology CSpirit

21 Madras Institute of Technology Theory of

favourability

22 Nirma University, Gujarat codewizards

23 Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi Continuum

24 Vishwakarma Institute of Technology, Pune DiningPhilosophers

25 Indian Institute of Information Technology and Management, Gwalior Dirty_coders

26 Indian Institute of Information Technology and Management, Gwalior Dormants_iiit

27 Indian Institute of Information Technology and Management, Gwalior Three Knights

28 Rashtreeya Vidyalaya College of Engineering, Bangalore elysia

29 Indian Institute of Technology, Guwahati G++

30 Indian Institute of Technology, Guwahati G

31 Dhirubhai Ambani Institute of Info & Comm Technology, Gujarat Hardcoders

32 Anna University - College of Engg, Guindy helloworldv08

33 Anna University - College of Engg, Guindy root897

34 Institute of Engineering and Management, Calcutta IdleHeads

35 Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur IITKGPCSE

36 Dwarkadas J. Sanghvi College of Engineering, Mumbai Juggernauts

37 M. S. Ramaiah Institute of Technology, Bangalore Seraphim

38 Velammal Engineering College, Tamil Nadu TeckMonks

39 International Institute of Information Technology, Hyderabad The King's Gambit

40 Indian Institute of Technology, Chennai the_deadly_tree

41 Chennai Mathematical Institute, Chennai ThreeBlindMice

42 Indian Institute of Information Technology, Allahabad Incredibles

43 Sri Sai Ram Engineering College, Chennai returnVoid

44 Amrita University, Bangalore syntaxTerror

45 SSN College of Engineering, Tamil Nadu unravellers

46 SNS College of Technology, Tamil Nadu code_breakers

47 Mepco Schlenk Engineering College, Sivakasi mepcoit

48 L B S College of Engineering, Kasaragod lbs_gnu

49 Sri Dharmasthala Manjunatheshwara College of Engineering and

Technology, Dharwad c_trackers

50 L B S College of Engineering, Kasaragod lbs-binary

51 National Institute of Technology, Trichy nitt_coders

52 National Institute of Technology, Trichy 18tillwedie

53 Birla Institute of Technology, Mesra, Ranchi the_Adroits

54 Madras Institute of Technology, Chennai destroyers

55 Madras Institute of Technology, Chennai kode_kings

56 Indian Institute of Technology, Mumbai AAA

57 Indian Institute of Technology, Mumbai SAS

58 BRAC University, Bangla Desh BRACU Dreamers

59 Suleyman Demirel University, Kazakhistan no name yet

60 University of Dhaka, Bangla Desh DU Dark Knights

61 University of Moratuwa, Sri Lanka 3amigos

62 University of Moratuwa, Sri Lanka mora-cse

63 National Taiwan University randomO

64 National University of Singapore NUSSOC1

65 Bina Nusantara University, Indonesia Pandemonium

International Teams

1

Khan Md. Anwarus Salam

BRAC University, Bangla Desh BRACU Dreamers Md.Intekhabul Hafiz

Annajiat Rasel

2

Ruslan Murzalin Suleyman Demirel University,

Kazakhistan no name yet Nurlan Muldashev

Oleg Sadykov

3

Iqram Mahmud University of Dhaka,

Bangla Desh

DU Dark Knights Syed Zubair Hossain

Jane Alam Jan

4

Chethiya Abeysinghe University of Moratuwa,

Sri Lanka 3amigos Nuwan Samarasekera

Varuna Jayasiri

5

Pramuditha Aravinda University of Moratuwa,

Sri Lanka mora-cse Shyam Reyal

Manuranga Perera

6

Shang-En Huang National Taiwan University,

Taiwan randomO Bo-Jhang Ho

Der-Yu Tsai

7

Minh Duc Ngo National University of Singapore

Singapore NUSSOC1 Hoanh Tien Nguyen

Duc Phong Nguyen

8

Gunawan Lie Bina Nusantara University,

Indonesia Pandemonium Eko Wibowo

Eko Mirhard

Reaching Onsite

Nestled in a picturesque village, across the beautiful and famed backwaters of Kerala, lies

the Amritapuri campus of the Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham. Our technical excellence

and the pristine beauty of the campus attract them. Located close to the International

headquarters of the Mata Amritanandamayi Math, the campus provides students a learning

environment that blends science and spirituality harmoniously. Amritapuri Campus is

hosting ICPC for the second time. 2005 & 2006 contests were held at Coimbatore Campus

of Amrita University.

How to reach:

By Air: Nearest Airports: Kochi (also known as Cochin) International Airport (COK) is140 km

away from Amrita University Campus and Thirunvananthapuram (also known as

Trivandrum) International Airport (TRV). is 130 km from Amritapuri Campus. A prepaid taxi

available at both the airports will take you to the campus. Remember to change money at

the airport, since only Indian rupees are accepted for payment. Bus services are also

available from both the international Airports to the campus.

Prepaid Taxi rates to reach the campus from various places:

From Kochi International Airport to Campus (Cost is only approximate)

Taxi for 1 - 5 people(Indica,Indigo etc.):- Rs.2215/-(Non AC); Rs.3000/-(AC)

Taxi for 6 - 8 people(Qualis,Innova etc.):- Rs.2215/- + Rs. 22/- per km. (Non AC);

Rs.3007/- + Rs.22/- per km. (AC)

From Trivandrum to Campus (Cost is only approximate)

Taxi for 1 - 5 people(Indica,Indigo etc.):- Rs.1800/-(Non AC); Rs.1020/-(AC)

Taxi for 6 - 8 people(Qualis,Innova etc.):- Rs.2040/-(Non AC); Rs.1140/-(AC)

From Kollam to Vallikkavu:-

Taxi for 1 - 5 people(Indica,Indigo etc.):- Rs.450/-(Non AC) Rs.255/-(AC)

Taxi for 6 - 8 people(Qualis, Innova etc):- Rs.510/-(non AC) Rs.285/-(AC)

By Train: Kayamkulam Railway Station (KYJ) (12 km north of Amritapuri campus) is the

closest town situated towards north of the venue of Onsite Contest. Small auto-rickshaws

can bring you to Amrita University Campus from the Railway station, which takes about 20

minutes and costs about Rs.150. Taxis cost about Rs. 220. Bus services are also available

from Kayamkulam Bus Stand to Vallikkavu, which is approximately five minute walk from

the campus.

By Bus: From the Ernakulam (Kochi) transport bus stand, board a bus going towards

Trivandrum via Alappuzha, and alight at Ochira. From Ochira, either hire an auto-rickshaw

to Amritapuri straight, which is a 6 km drive from Ochira and costs about Rs.60 (or a taxi) or board a bus going towards Vallickavu. Send your queries to icpc@amritapuri.amrita.edu

Interesting places in Kollam district

Accessing Kollam

Telephone access code: +91-474

Air: Nearest airport: Thiruvananthapuram (71 km)

Rail: Kollam is an important railhead of the Southern Railways. Enquiry Ph: 131

Road: KSRTC, Central Bus Stn. Ph: 2752008

Mayyanad (10 km south of Kollam town)

Mayyanad is noted for its shrines and temples. The most important of the nine temples here

is the Subramanya Temple at Umayanallor. The shrine is said to have been consecrated by

the great Hindu philosopher Sree Sankaracharya. There are frequent buses from Kollam to

Mayyanad.

Thangasseri (5 km from Kollam town)

This seaside village of historic importance has the ruins of an

old Portuguese fort and churches built in the 18th century.

The Thangasseri lighthouse which is 144 feet high, is open to

visitors from 1530 - 1730 hrs. There are buses at 15 minute

intervals from Kollam town.

Kottukal Rock Cut Cave Temple (11 km from

Chadayamangalam):

This temple situated on the Thiruvananthapuram - Kottayam MC Road is an idyllic example of rock cut temple architecture.

Jatayupara

A huge rock at Chadayamangalam takes its name from the mythical bird Jatayu in the epic

Ramayana, who is believed to have collapsed on the rock after failing in his attempts to

thwart Ravana's kidnapping of Sita.

Sasthamkotta (29 km from Kollam town)

This vast fresh water lake surrounded by hills on three sides

is the largest of its kind in Kerala. The ancient Sastha

Temple which lends its name to the town, is an important

pilgrim centre. There are frequent bus services from Kollam.

Accommodation is available at the PWD Rest House.

Thenmala (66 km east of Kollam)

Covered by dense forest, rubber and tea

plantations, Thenmala is home to India's first

planned eco-tourism project. Selected by

World Tourism Organisation as one of the

world's best eco-friendly projects, Thenmala

has a leisure zone that includes winding

pathways, a sway bridge and a boardwalk; a

culture zone with an amphitheatre and a

musical fountain and an adventure zone. For

details contact: Ph: 0471-2329770

Fax:2337037 Email:

info@thenmalaecotourism.com/

thenmalaecotourism.org. For trained local

guides contact: Ph: 0475-2344725

Palaruvi Waterfalls (75 km from Kollam town)

Palaruvi which means stream of milk makes its way

down the rocks, from a height of 300 feet. The Palaruvi

woods is a beautiful picnic spot. The PWD Inspection

Bungalow and the KTDC Motel offer comfortable

accommodation.

Other attractions: Trekking to the waterfalls, bathing in

the river.

Picnic Village

This village located at Ashramam, along the backwater front, is the main centre for

recreational activities in Kollam. A 200 year old Government Guest House, an Adventure

Park, a Tourist Boat Club, a Children's Traffic Park and a Yatri Nivas are all housed in this

vast tourist complex.