Page 224 - Demo

224 THE CLARENCIAN 2024-2025I would be more fascinated if the material were a bit closer to home%u2014more local. However, that is at the Council%u2019s discretion and I would rather deal with it for one more year than start planning my course of action to fight for the right to drop history. I put away my thoughts and turned to my backpack, which was leaning against the chair I was sitting on. I pulled out my history textbook, turned to the page and listened as the teacher read out the chapter.%u201cAn edict is a decree from a sovereign. The edicts of Ashoka form the most important source of Mauryan history. They are the%u2026%u201d My rare, onein-a-million shot at paying full attention was disrupted by a light nudge on the elbow by my desk mate. If only reverting back to my work were as simple.%u201cHey, Geo, check this out. A third grader drew this super cool picture. Back in our days, we never drew this well,%u201d she said, pointing to a picture in her magazine, which she was silently reading under her desk.%u201cYou sound like a grandma, saying, %u2018back in our days%u2019,%u201d I teased, before realising that I had to return to work. %u201cI%u2019ll see it later. Now, will you please listen to class, or at least, not disturb me?%u201d I whisper-shouted back, but the deed had already been done. She had managed to distract me.I got to thinking %u2014 edicts are the most important source of Mauryan history. Maybe, in a few hundred years, historians of the future would use our school magazine as a source of information about Clarence, deciphering the language of Gen Z and Alpha.It called out to me, yet never made a sound. The glossy cover of The Clarencian had an irresistible lustre and, as if by a magnetic attraction, my hands were drawn towards the book. My eyes shifted subtly to the teacher, who was explaining edicts some more, not looking in my general direction. I slowly picked up the book from my table and set it down on my lap. I opened it again, flipping through the pages. This was a special edition, celebrating 110 years. A century and a decade have flown by since the Redwood brothers opened the school. 3 x 10%u2079 + 3 x 10%u2078 seconds saw their simple idea flourish and blossom.That%u2019s a lot of zeroes.There were a lot of articles as well. Each one, themed %u2018110 years%u2019, brought back memories. From the little playground lane attached behind my Prep classroom (The now %u2018Montessori-3%u2019 occupants of those classrooms probably never knew it was called Prep before.) to the jungle gyms and monkey bars of the dusty school field, a lot had changed over ten years.