Expression of interest

[Tara Sitara]

Tara decided that it was time that she got a job. It was all very well Praneil saying that he would support her family, but she knew that he was now married and had his own family to support. She had written to him a few weeks ago wondering if he knew of anywhere where she may be able to get a job over the holidays. A few days later, she had deceived a letter about a family who were looking for a cook in France. She had been rather exited about that idea as she had done a lot of thinking over the last year or so and decided that she would quite like to open a café or something and serve tasty vegetarian food in a welcoming atmosphere or something like that.
Once she had received a name and address she found herself a quiet place in the library and after a couple of drafts she had a copy that she was happy with.

Dear Mr and Mrs Gupta
I have been informed that you are looking to find a cook for the school holidays and I would like to apply. My name Is Tara Sitara, I am 16 years old but will be turning 17 in March. I was born and raised in Joshimath, Uttarakhand, India and am currently attending school at Hogwarts New Zealand.
Generally, I cook mainly vegetarian Indian food but I am more than happy to make western food as well, I will if you desire I will cook meat but I’m afraid I will not cook beef. In my free time, I enjoy drawing and painting mainly flowers and landscapes, as well as socializing with my friends.
Thank you for your consideration for the job
Tara Sitara

She then packed up her things and headed up to the owlery to find a hardy owl and attached the letter to its leg muttering a quiet prayer before feeding it a few slices of pear in thanks hoping the journey wasn't too far for it. it then it walked over to the window and flew off. she watched it go before heading back to the common room for the evening.

 

[Meera Gupta]

It was winter in France but that was not going to stop the Gupta family from celebrating Makarshankrati, the festival of flying kites. They had invited a few close family friends to their house to celebrate. Meera Gupta loved celebrating festivals because those were one of the few things that reminded her of the country where she truly belonged. Of course it was not all of India that celebrated the festival of kites, only the state of Gujrat did, as far as Meera knew. Celebrations and being host to guests was very common for the Gupta family. They had learned to blend so well within the few Indian families in France that no one could guess that they were royals. They protected their true identity with their life and for fourteen years now, they had been successful. Meera looked at herself in the mirror. She loved wearing Indian clothes but she mostly wore them only during her holidays. She was thinking of wearing a necklace when she heard her mother call her from down the stairs. She quickly hurried out of her bedroom to see how she could help her mother. "Could you please answer this owl?" her mother, Radhika asked her pointing at a hardy looking owl that was flying around in the living room. Most of the guests were muggles and a random owl with mail did bring a lot of suspicion and that was hardly what this family needed.

"Right away. Come here birdy" she said faking a chuckle as she pretended that the owl was her pet. Some of the guests were convinced others continued to watch her as she went back to her room. Giving the owl a few treats, Meera put it to rest in the empty owl cage that belonged to her pet owl which was currently making a delivery. "Lets see what we've got here" she murmured to herself as she took the letter out of the envelope. Being a royal was not easy as it sounded. She had to learn a lot of stuff that other people her age would never dream of, plus she had to be good at mostly everything. That included writing because sometime in the future she would be writing a lot of letters and other legal stuff. Meera read the mail carefully. It was true, they did need a cook. During the holidays, with the festivals and guests plus Meera being home, Radhika hardly got any time to relax and cooking huge meals was fun but tiring at the same time. Meera took her eagle feather quill and quickly wrote back to Tara Sitara.

Dear Tara Sitara,

I was pleased to receive your owl. You have been informed correctly about our search for a cook during the holidays. It is surprising to hear that the news has traveled to New Zealand but I am pleased to know that we have well wishers. We need a cook for the holidays because we invite guests and have celebrations for different festivals. I am pleased to hear that you cook vegetarian food because most of our guests and our family are vegetarians.

Seeing that you are young, I do have a few questions. Do we need to ask permission from your parents before hiring you? If yes, I would gladly send them a mail. Are they wizards too? Secondly, would you be living to stay with us during the holidays as you work because that would be very convenient. Do you know any French? Of course we know Hindi are fluent in English as well but some basics in French would make you feel more comfortable while you're in France. And lastly, how much would you like your salary to be?

Looking forward to hear from you soon.

Yours sincerely,
Meera Gupta

P.S My parents were busy so they asked me to write this down.

After a few hours she tied the letter to the owl and sent it back to New Zealand.

 

[Tara Sitara]

It was a few days later when Tara received her reply with the rest of the mail at breakfast. she read it as she ate her yoghurt it seemed like it had been replied to by the daughter of the family and it seemed like she may have gotten the job. That evening after classes she once again found herself a quiet spot in the library and wrote a reply.

Dear Meera Gupta
Thankkyou gor the reply. I heard about the vacency from aa friend of mine Praneil Patil who is part of the Patil's appothicaries family. I enjoy cooking for celibrations and my mother hs made sure i know how to cook all of the relivent dises for the festivals, so that when i make my own home i can still celibrate no matter wehre i am.
I will let my family know of my plans, am sure they will not have a problem with me working as if i was not attending school i would have been working for years, and a cook is a well respected job. They are not Wizards, I was born and raised a muggle, not knowing of the wizarding world until i was eleven.
I think that it would be most practical to be living with you in france as then it would save causing suspicion vanishing and arriving from my home at odd hours. Unfortunately I know virtually no french, but i am quick to learn. I am fluent in hindi and english as well as sanskrit. I do not know what my salary should be as i know very little of what is appropriate to pay a cook. I am sure that whatever you decide will be plenty.
Yours sincerely
Tara Sitara

She then headed back up to the owlery and found an elegant looking barn owl to send the letter with. as she tied the letter on she prayed again for the owls safety and thanked it as it flew off.

 

[Meera Gupta]

It was weird how students always waited for holidays to come but once they did all of them would get bored eventually. Meera was no where near bored. She always had a bunch of things to keep her busy and sometimes even more busy then she would like to be but she knew all of it was aimed for a better future of her people and her family so she was happy to participate. Meera had enjoyed Makarshankrati festival despite losing the battle of flying kites. She had helped her mother cook for the guests and the food had been delicious. The good part was that the people who were not vegetarians loved the food too! The down part was that they did not own a house elf, they did have a few servants but they were all French and despite them trying to do their best to help Meera and her mother they could just not meet the standards that a cook or a servant from India could. Radhika Gupta had been glad to hear about Tara Sitara's letter and she was more than willing to allow the Indian girl to help them with the food department during the holidays. Radhika even saw this benefiting Meera as she would probably make friends with the girl. Radhika knew how the circumstances were but she had always wanted her children to have some Indian friends so that they could enjoy more as they celebrated different festivals and performed rituals and prayers together. Meera on the other hand was curious too and a little excited to meet Tara Sitara. Of course, they had not finalized it yet but the prospect was exciting.

The holidays were coming to an end and the young Princess had to go back to her school Beauxbatons. She was looking forward to another term and meeting her friends again but at the same time she was sad as she did not want to leave her parents once again. If it had not been for the fear they lived in every day of being discovered, Meera would not think much of leaving her parents for another six months but the situation was different. All these thoughts ran through her head and she tried to clear them as she took a shot at the target ahead of her. She had to manuver hear arrow to pass through a small circular loop that was suspended in air by magic and then hit the apple that was on the other side, about ten meters away from the loop. She watched as the arrow passed the loop but missed the apple by inches. If she had been a normal girl, she would have cursed herself or muttered swear words but she was a Princess and she had been taught to behave better.

She glanced at her mentor and friend, Arjun who had been training her in archery and sword fighting since she was nine. She smiled apologetically. She knew he expected better of her and the cause of missing her target were the thoughts of departing that ran in her mind. She had been taught well, time and again, to never lose focus but sometimes it was just too hard. "I'll keep going until I get it" she said confidently as she extracted another arrow from quiver. Praying silently in her mind for a minute, she put the arrow in her bow, pulled it back and aimed once again for the apple and then released her arrow. She watched it pass the loop and hit the target. "Yes!" she said happily. She had been trying this for two hours now and she had finally got it. She ran happily to were Arjun stood and hugged him. "I did it!" she said grinning widely.

Their moment of victory was disrupted as a cute barn owl flew towards them from the skies. "It must be from Tara Sitara!" she informed Arjun. The appearance of the owl, was no probem this time because Arjun was luckily a wizard too. "I hope its all good and she comes here next holiday to help" she said as she unfolded the letter and read. She summoned her writing materials from her desk and sitting on one of the benches in the garden where they had been practicing, Meera wrote back. After she was done she gave the owl a few treats before sending it back to New Zealand with the letter.

Dear Tara Sitara,

I'm glad to hear a positive response from your side. My mother and I know how to cook but a helping hand is always good during festivals and holidays. The Patil's are very good family friends of ours and I will be sure to thank Praneil when I see him. We will be happy to accommodate you in our house for the holidays and take care of the travelling costs in case you would like to come to France by air. My parents will definitely pay you well because it would be so unfair if they did not especially since you would be spending your holidays with us rather than your own family.

If you feel the need to learn French, we'll be glad to sign you up for classes or such. I will be going back to my school, Beauxbatons Academy for Magic for the second term but I'll be back during the holidays when I am hoping to meet you. I am currently in my fourth year and meeting another teenaged witch from India would be my pleasure.I have never been there so far but once I am done with school I intended to visit. In our family, here in France we are five of us. My parents, my younger brother, Chirag and an acquaintance, Arjun. My mother, I and Arjun are magical. My younger brother is eight so we don't know if he too will be joining our group and my father is a muggle and he's a Professor in the University of France. Let me know if you have any more questions and I would love to hear more about you.

Yours sincerely,
Meera Gupta

Out of Character:

Sorry about all the random RP not related to the mails. This is the only place I get to RP with Meera

 

[Tara Sitara]

Out of Character:

the RP is good. I know what it is like to want to RP someone but not have anywhere to do it.

It was couple of days before Tara received the reply to her letter. she had had a good few days and actually started hanging out with her best friend again though if they were still best friends she wasn't sure. today was Saturday and she was out in her favourite place by the rosebush on the edge of the late her sketch pad on her lap drawing the lush red flowers. she smiled as a butterfly landed on the one that she was drawing. butterflies had always been her favourite animal, they reminded her of when she was younger and she had gone to the valley of flowers one day with her dad she had spent the day there whilst he had worked in the national park. she had sketched the flowers and wished there was a butterfly, all of a sudden all of the flowers budded and as that bud opened instead of a flower there was a butterfly and the next moment the sky had been full of a rainbow of the multicoloured insects. of course her dad hadn't believed her when she had told him, he had said he did but she headed him telling her mother and laughing about it saying she must have fallen asleep, of course that was before they knew she was magic.
as she put the last touches on he insect before it flew of she heard a rustle behind her she looked and saw the owl. looking back at the insect she saw it flutter into the sky and almost vanish. she would add the details and colour later she too the letter off the owl and it flew to get some sleep in the owlery. she read it and smiled. she was pretty sure she would enjoy working for this family. she took an new page of her sketch pad that was near clear with just a border of pansies up one side. and decided to write her reply.

Dear Meera Gupta
thank you for the offer of accommodation. that will make things a lot easier for everyone. besides I would love to see france, I have heard from Praneil that it is rather pretty. Thank you for the offer of covering the airfare but I am learning to apparate this semester and I don't have a passport so hopefully if i pass i will apparate, If not, do you have a fire that is connected to the floo network?
thank you also for the offer of french lessons. you are very generous.
I too am looking forward to meeting another indian wizarding family. The Patils are the only one I know (well now you too) I am the only indian student at Hogwarts at the moment. My family is also quite small. I have my mom and dad. My mum stays at home, and makes a little money growing vegetables to sell either at market or made into meals for the tourists who visit our village to see the temples. My Dad works in the national park as a warden. I also have a brother, Keval, he is older than me, 19, and he works at one of the temples. what else do you want to know about me? I will of course answer any question you have
yours sincerely
Tara Sitara

she finished writing, not sure if she should put her last name down or not (she decided she should) she then turned back to finish her picture.
Once she was done she walked back up to the castle she wondered if she should rewrite the letter again on a plain pice of parchment. deciding that the border wasn't to bad, she had planned on adding to it but it looked nice as i was, well it would look nice once she fixed up a little of the shading. Once it was fixed she found another owl and attached the letter to its leg, humming as she did, drawing always relaxed her. she watched it fly away into the twilight before she headed down to dinner.

 

[Meera Gupta]

Meera sat in the library in the Beauxbatons Academy of Magic studying hard. Her exams were three months from now and no one other than herself and a few older group of boys were the occupants of the library. She had no idea what the seventh year boys were up to but she was certain they were not studying. Meera did not want to waste any time in thinking about anyone else or getting distracted she therefore had chosen a spot in a corner hidden behind a bookshelf where she had found peace and enough light for some proper reading. One would think that being a royal was easy and allowed you to order around people and do nothing but that was not true at all. Meera had to study hard and get good grades and compete to be on top of things. No one knew she was a princess, yet but she was well aware that when she would turn eighteen and declare herself as a Princess the media of both wizarding world and muggle world would go to all extents to dig up things about her and but she was not going to let anyone spoil the name or status of her family by finding flaws in herself. She had engaged herself in Qudditch and was playing chaser in the Beauxbatons team and the games would begin soon and once they did she would not be able to study much and she did not want to fall back in her classes. Plus her everyday one hour practice with swords and archery had to continue in secret no matter where she was. Meera had found a classroom that was always abandoned and practiced there regularly.The few selected friends she had questioned her behavior of disappearing on her own and studying way more than other people but with time they stopped their questions and Meera was glad that she had chosen friends who were loyal and gave her some space. She knew she was missing some fun time of playing wizarding chess with her friends at the moment but she knew that in her life she would have to sacrifice a few things to achieve others.

Meera turned the page of her heavy and old textbook of Arthimacy and started reading a new chapter. As she was reading she heard the boys laughing and the hooting of an owl in the library. Curiously she peeked out from behind the book shelf and spotted the familiar looking barn owl. She quickly got up, pushing her book aside and walked towards the owl that the boys were trying to intercept but it was putting up a fight. "Stop it. The mail is for me" she said in rapid French annoyance reflecting in her tone. One of boys let go the owl's leg after giving Meera a long scanning look as if his eyes had x-ray vision. Meera ignorted him and petted the owl's head as it sat on her arm. One of the other boys spoke, his voice mocking her "Someone's got a boyfriend. Is that why you don't date Gupta?" Meera raised her chocolate brown eyes and narrowed them as she watched the group of boys, the other boys were cheering on the boy who had mocked her. "Its none of your business" she replied being more annoyed. She never understood why these boys who were adults now did not pay attention to serious matters like carrier choices or exams and acted like children. She took a quick glance at the magazine that lay on the table which the boys had clearly been reading and laughing about. It was a muggle magazine and had muggle girls in bikinis. "Why don't you continue reading that crap" she said as she turned around and started walking back to her spot. But she was stopped as the boy who had mocked her quickly stood up and blocked her way looking down at her, clearly enjoying himself. Meera was taller than most girls her age and she was almost reaching the boy's height. "If you don't have a boyfriend, or a fiancee back where you come from why don't you say yes to coming to the formal ball with me?" the boy asked her a smirk playing on his face.The other boys wolf whistled on this statement. Meera pushed back her hair and irritation was showing on her face. She met the boy's eyes and said hoping that this insult would make the boy to back off "You're a cockroach. Have zero fashion sense and are a moron that's why." The boys however where no were near leaving or backing off. The boy who had previously got a hold on the barn owl replied "Not everyone can be a hottie like yourself." Meera was now angry and was considering swearing at them but she did not do so because she was a princess and using curse words was not at all princess like behavior. Just as Meera extracted her wand to jinx them, the old librarian came along and asked them to shut up.

Meera was glad that the librarian had come in time because she did not want to get in trouble at school and she loathed those boys. Other boys had asked her out but these boys had always crossed all limits when they got a chance to mock her. Clearing her mind she opened the letter and read. She wrote back immediately as she wondered when they would get holidays again. She sometimes wished her school was an all girls school she hated the way most of the boys she knew were flirting with her or asking her out. After she was done writing the reply she gave some treats to the owl and sent it back. She sipped some water from the bottle she carried with her and taking a deep breath she continued studying. She was well trained and a couple of jerks were not going to ruin her peace of mind.

Dear Tara Sitara,

How are you? I hope you're school and people are treating you well. You're in your sixth year, right? All the best with your NEWTs. Being able to apparate would certainly be very useful and I can't wait to learn it. Side along apparation always makes me feel sick. Yes, we do have floo network connected in our house. I will pray that you easily pass your test.

You're very welcome. We like helping others and you seem very nice so we are glad. Its good to know about your family. If we visit India we would surely like to meet them sometime but for now I'm very excited to meet you. Do you play any wizarding sports at your school? I play as a beater in my school's Qudditch team. What are your other hobbies? I see this design on the letter. Did you sketch it? Its very nice.

I like to paint, play the piano and sitar, swimming and horse riding. Sketching is not my thing, I like colours more than black and white. I am back in school and I like all the subjects that I am taking. Some people find it lame that I don't dislike any subjects but its just the way I am.I love learning new things. My favourite subjects are Defence Against the Dark Arts and Arthimacy. Does your school teach you Defence or the Dark Arts? I hear one of the school teaches the Dark Arts which I think is very dangerous and should not be taught. I've never been to New Zealand, how is it there? The seasons must be all in reverse. I can't imagine December without Snow. Our school might arrange a trip to New Zealand. It would be lovely if you have the permission to come see me if I visit. I am sure my parents won't mind me going on the trip if our school finalizes the decision to take us there instead of Salem. Beauxbatons wants us to see different areas where witches and wizards have settled so I suppose that shall be fun.Does your school have any trips?

Nothing more to add for now.

Yours sincerely,
Meera Gupta.

 

[Tara Sitara]

Tara had been finishing an assignment of hers in the student lounge when she heard a tap on the window. she looked up as it was unusually quiet just a few second years in an intense game of chess and the some at first year spectatora watching with bated breath. a surprisingly quiet night in the launge. at first she thought that the tapping was one of the beaces being broken but after a few moments she realised that it was somethign else. she looked up and saw the owl, she headed over to the window to let him in, thankyou Ullu" she said as she let him go up to the owlery for sleep he needed it. she read through the letter and smiled. she quickly finnished the lasr sentence before gettign a new page and continuing writing.

Dear Meera Gupta
you are correct, I am in my sixth year at school here, and everything is going well. How about you at your school? are you enjoying everything? My first class is this saturday and hopefully it wll be able to apparate in the endit will make everything a lot easyer.
If you do visit them, I am sure they will love to meet you and you would be more than welcome into our home like family.
I agree colours cirtainly make the world more interesting but sometimes it s easyer to use just pencil or charchol. thay also capture the tone and shadong better. playing the sitar always looks hard, I never learned any instrument, whenever there was music classes at school I was in the dancing class instead, my friend and dorm-mate knows a lot of instruments though singing is her favorate. At school my faverate subject is probably charms we do have defence against the dark arts is what we have here, but i decided not to take it this year as the professor is scary. Feld trip wise, in many classes we have excersions to differnet places, but it is just for one class then back to the school, we never stay there long. It would be good to be able to visit other places. properly. You re right the seasons here are totally like you say, it is janurary now and the middle of summer, then in august it is winter and cold and rains a lot. All of the seasons are beautiful. though it is maybe a little warm for my liking today.
yours Sincerely
Tara Sitara

she then headed up to the owlery and sent the letter to her new friend and potential boss.

Out of Character:

sorry it took so long, My muse with Tara has been down for a while and it is still not perfect and i have been trying to get a good reply going"