Each week, the Record (using a script in R) randomly selects a student at the College for our One in Two Thousand feature, excluding current Record board members. This week, Shiv Patel ’27 discussed his love of photography, growing up in Manchester, and his favorite activities on campus. This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Akkshansh Bagga (AB): Alright, let’s start with the obvious — what’s the story with the knee brace?
Shiv Patel (SP): It’s healing now, but I’ve had a bad knee for a few years, and it just got worse over summer. I didn’t do anything dangerous, but I went to the doctor and they said I need surgery or it would keep getting worse, so then I had surgery five days before coming to school. It wasn’t that bad. It took three hours, and I came home the same day.
AB: How has that impacted you this semester in general? Physically? Emotionally?
SP: [I’ve] gone to a lot less events, especially in the first month of school — because, well, I couldn’t. I haven’t been doing my job [as a photographer at Sports Information] because I had crutches — I couldn’t hold the camera. I hope to get back into that this weekend for Homecoming.
AB: Your Instagram is so beautiful. How did you get into photography and what has your involvement on campus been with it?
SP: I always liked taking pictures of stuff, mainly because I didn’t want to take pictures of myself. I was always the one who would hold the camera and take pictures of other things and people. Then, when I moved [to the United States], I started taking pictures at the temple that I go to every week. I would shoot all the festivals.
AB: Where are you from?
SP: That’s a difficult question. I don’t really know what I consider my hometown. Before I was born, my parents lived in India. They grew up there, and then they moved to England in the 1990s. And then I was born in England — in Manchester, specifically. I lived there my whole life. And then I moved here at the end of 2021, so I did half of my junior year and [entire] senior year of high school in America.
AB: What do you think about Manchester?
SP: I miss the weather. Everyone has this assumption that British weather is rainy and terrible, and I’m not saying it isn’t. [Laughs.] But the temperature is moderate, and I kind of like the rain. I really don’t like the weather in New England because it’s either too hot or too cold.
AB: Is Manchester United your favorite team?
SP: Yeah. I go to a lot of games and really enjoy the atmosphere. It was a nice rivalry too with City and United. There were a lot of City fans in my school, so that was fun.
AB: Where in the United States did you move ?
SP: Right now, I live in eastern Massachusetts. I got to finish high school in the U.K., because it ends when you’re 16. I did exams during COVID, which was kind of a blessing. The first few months [after moving] were tough. We lived with my grandparents before we got our own place. My parents, my brother, and I all lived in the same room for a few weeks. That was a tough adjustment. And then American high school — that was crazy.
AB: Tell me more.
SP: I feel like the first few weeks, I was just in shock. What did I come into? In the U.K., the last year of high school is stressful because you’re doing exams, whereas here the last year of high school — once you’ve applied to college — you’re just chilling. Also, culturally, nobody’s afraid to just speak their mind here, and that can be a very good thing — but also a bad thing sometimes. At my old school, I remember getting yelled at for not addressing a professor by saying “sir,” whereas here, everyone is just doing whatever they want.
AB: Do you think you have an accent?
SP: No, it’s strange. I feel like there’s a certain age where you can change your accent [if you try], and I feel like I moved at the end of when you can change your accent.
AB: Do you think if you visit Manchester, you’d have a more British accent there?
SP: Definitely what I [in a British accent] notice [Laughs.] is that when I talk about my accent, my accent changes and when I’m at home with my parents and my brother, I don’t speak like this, I speak the way I used to.
AB: What do you like to do around campus?
SP: Last year, I played a lot of squash. I’d never played squash before coming to Williams. I thought it was super fun. I also want to start playing football again this year. It was a massive part of my childhood. In the U.K., I played with my high school team. I also played for the cricket team, but there’s not much cricket here. I’ve also never been on a hike here. I’ve only been on Mountain Day.
AB: When your knee heals, we should go on a sunrise hike together.
SP: We should. I need to force myself to get up because a sunrise hike here sounds like so much fun.
