Tharoor to host online quiz on Kerala

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Union minister of state for human resource development Sashi Tharoor will host Kerala Tourism's online quiz contest starting from May 10.

Tharoor, who founded the Quiz Club at his alma mater St Stephen's College in New Delhi in 1974, will be asking one question every day for almost two months in the first online quiz show by a tourism department in India.

Referring to his initiative at St Stephen's, Tharoor said, "It was the first college quiz club in the country and is still in existence, a model for others." In the upcoming show, Tharoor will pose questions on the nature, geography and culture of "God's own country", on the Kerala Tourism website (www.keralatourism.org).

The quiz contest has already received a huge response with thousands of enthusiasts registering themselves for the event, a Kerala Tourism release said on Saturday.

A majority of the registered participants are from outside Kerala, including thousands from across India and abroad. The well spread-out Malayalee diaspora has accounted for only about 10% of the participants so far.

Registration will remain open during the entire course of the contest.

The participants will get 24 hours to answer the questions posed by Tharoor every day. The answers can be posted online on the website. The show runs up to July 8.

As many as 6,200 prizes will be up for grabs for the correct answers. The prizes will be presented on a daily and weekly basis during the quiz.

Tharoor, who represents the Thiruvananthapuram constituency in Lok Sabha, is a former United Nations under-secretary general. The quiz master will be aided by visual clips for his questions.