By Monita Rajpal
Spring Cleaning
Believe it or not the weather in London has been beautiful. So beautiful one might be mistaken into thinking we are entering spring. For the past few days there hasn’t been a cloud in the sky and it has been relatively mild-especially for February. All this brightness has got me thinking about my closet. Trust me, there is a link. See, in London, space is VERY limited. And while that includes living space, closet space is even that much harder to find. I’m quite fortunate to say that my closets are pretty ample but now I feel I have no choice but to do some culling.
My job as anchor for CNN Today and host of Art of Life means I have to have a good and wide selection of clothes. Which is great news for a clothes horse like me. The problem is, I’ve run out of room because truth be told I never throw anything out. I think I even have a shirt my mother bought for me some 25 years ago when we were living in Hong Kong! I’ve moved houses four times and each time I’ve had the opportunity to get rid of things I don’t need I can’t muster up the courage to throw them away. I sit beside a box and remember the day I got this one piece of clothing and how I felt when I got it.
Clothing, like music, bring back tons of memories and emotions and it’s hard to let that go. I remember that day my mom and I walked into that tiny shop one evening in Hong Kong. I saw the shirt and really like it so she bought it for me. I think back to that evening and feel this connection with my mother, one I can’t just throw out even though I hardly ever wear that shirt now and haven’t done so in years. The same goes for many other items of clothing I have tucked away in my closet. Some go back to when I first starting reporting in Canada. The jackets, the tops, the suits: they all remind me of my days when everything was so new to me. I have somewhere the outfit I wore on my very first day on air: it was a black printed silk jacket. I remember thinking that I had to wear clothes that didn’t detract from my reporting. I also remember thinking I had to wear clothes that helped make me look credible yet still maintain my age (24 at the time). I learned that I had to wear what was comfortable because I would be running around getting the story. I also learned that I had to wear clothes that didn’t make me get lost in the background. I remember many a time watching airchecks (tapes of shows I reported or anchored on) and cringing because of what I wore.
Still, there were lessons to be learned about my style and who I wanted to be. Slowly, the more comfortable I became with my job and my ability as a journalist, the more comfortable I became showing who I was through my clothes. I never wanted to have that “anchor look – you know the type, lots of make up, VERY bright jackets, and hair that was sprayed till it looked like a helmet. I wanted to look young because I was. I wanted to look stylish because I thought I was. And I wanted to look approachable. Most importantly, I wanted to look like me – whoever I thought I was that day.
I remember a few years ago a journalist writing an article on me asking me what my favourite item of clothing was. I answered, “That is like trying to choose a favourite child!” At the time, that was true because I loved all my clothes because they were a part of me, a part of how I thought, and a part of how I felt the day I bought them and when I wore them. To some extent, that is still true. So getting rid of my clothes, while a necessary part of London living, is very difficult. But I guess it is also a necessary part of growing up. I have to let go of who I was and make room for who I am and who I am yet to be.
Needless to say, my friends are very excited about the culling, as they will reap the benefits of my evolution.
Monita Rajpal is an anchor and correspondent for CNN International.
