Governor Gopalkrishna Gandhi congratulates a student for her efforts at a history exhibition organised by Calcutta International School. Picture by Anindya Shankar Ray

What is your favourite Dickens’s novel?” Governor Gopalkrishna Gandhi asked a child. As she mumbled: “Oliver...”, he beamed: “Oliver Twist? That’s my favourite too.”

Squeezing time off his hectic schedule, the governor spent a good 30 minutes at Calcutta International School (CIS), viewing a history exhibition set up by the students. “The exhibition has taught me a lot,” he added, before rushing off in his car.

The two-day exhibition —Ab Aeterno (from the beginning of time) — was held on September 25 and 26. Starting from the Stone Age, the exhibition traced important world events from the riparian civilisations, colonial age, French Revolution, Revolt of 1857 to the recent Delhi blasts.

Little Ashwin Paul ushered in visitors to the Gupta period with a small introduction, “Welcome to my kingdom. I am king Samudragupta.”

Dressed in period clothes, the children jazzed up the event with small enactments. “Through this exhibition, we have tried to provide holistic education to our students,” said Anuradha Das, the principal. “The entire credit goes to the students. It has taught them how to work in a team, share responsibilities and help others,” she added.

The students illustrated the causes of World War I, its glorification in the first phase and the disillusionment in the second phase. The negative aspects of the war were depicted through the writings of Rupert Brooke and Wilfred Owen. World War II was depicted through the holocaust and bombings at Hiroshima and Nagasaki. But history to CIS children is not all about war. They also presented the golden age of Hollywood in the 1930s and 40s through a slide show.

“Every child was involved in the exhibition. The studious ones do the research while the creative ones make models,” said Tina Servaia, the coordinator for the exhibition.