India's first aanavandi hackathon, and a hackathon in motion. Sixteen student teams build overnight on the Jain Kochi campus, board a KSRTC bus with the judges at dawn, and pitch their solutions at four and a half thousand feet.
Aanavandi is Kerala's familiar name for the KSRTC bus: dependable, unhurried and part of childhood. This September, one of those buses becomes a hackathon. JAIN School of Future presents India's first aanavandi hackathon.
Sixteen teams build overnight on the Jain Kochi campus. At dawn they board a KSRTC coach with the judges. The Chief Guest flags them off at 07:30; code is reviewed on the road and the winner is announced that afternoon in Munnar.
Technology for Kerala's public services. Each problem comes with a dataset in the kit, and two teams take each problem so the judges have two answers to compare.
Kerala's road conditions, passenger access and information, and routing complaints to the depot that can act on them.
Drinking water safety, including bacterial contamination; river pollution from source to sea; and backwater health.
Welfare entitlement, sanitation and access to basic services for the communities that need them most.
Problems remain sealed until the 17:00 brief on 23 September. Two of the eight are designed for teams new to building software.
At 22:30, 06:30 and on the coach, judges give written change requests. Your response to that feedback carries marks.
Rounds 1–3 provide written feedback; the final pitch is scored. Ties are broken by working prototype, then problem understanding. Four judges: two external and two internal.
₹1,00,000 in total. Winners are announced at Munnar after the final pitch round. Every participant receives a certificate and the ANAVANDI hackathon kit.
Free entry. Travel, meals and the hackathon kit are provided.
Undergraduate and postgraduate students of any discipline. Teams of exactly two: sixteen teams in all, eight from Jain and eight from invited institutions. You do not need to be a computer science student.
Students from any discipline can participateA fully charged laptop and two power banks per person. Install tools and cache datasets, models and documentation before boarding: internet on the coach is unreliable. Bring a change of clothes, your medication and a signed parental consent form.
Roll call at every halt. Tell a marshal immediately if unwell. Rest is permitted; screens remain closed on the ghat section in both directions.
No substitutions once coding begins at 18:00 on 23 September.
Every line you show must be written after the clock starts. Reusing an earlier project means disqualification.
Open-source libraries, public datasets and AI tools are permitted. Declare AI use in your pitch.
24 September, at Munnar. All three evaluation rounds are compulsory.
Share your repository with the Technical Coordinator at the start. Include a README and a working demo. No commits after the freeze are judged.
Be part of India's first aanavandi hackathon. Each participant registers individually. Agree your team name first, and both partners must type it identically so the organisers can pair you.
Open the registration formUpdates, announcements, reminders and last-minute changes are posted only on the ANAVANDI WhatsApp channel. Join it as soon as you register so you never miss a stop.