Apu Nahasapeemapetilon is a fictional character featured in The Simpsons television series. He is the proprietor of the Kwik-E-Mart (a subsidiary of Nordyne Defense Dynamics), the local convenience store. He is an immigrant from India, and like most Simpsons characters is a caricature of a common stereotype—that of the South Asian convenience store owner. His most defining characteristics are his exaggerated Indian English, his devotion to the Hindu god Ganesh and his indefatigable immigrant work-ethic. His catchphrase is "thank you, come again", cheerfully and dutifully repeated to customers after a transaction. There are many hidden jokes in the show that play off Western ignorance of the Indian ethnic landscape: there have been shows in which Apu has been called a 'Jolly Bengali' and, paradoxically, a 'Pakistani'. (one cannot be both Bengali and Pakistani; also, since he is Indian, he cannot be Pakistani).

Apu's family and background

Apu is married to his wife Manjula, who bore octuplet children: Anoop, Uma, Nabendu, Poonam, Pria, Sandeep, Sashi, and (Mama's clear favorite) Gheet.

Apu and Manjula were wed through an arranged marriage. Despite trying to wriggle out of the arrangement at first, Apu was won over soon after meeting Manjula and the two actually did fall in love. Later, Manjula gave birth to the amazing amount of eight children after taking a larger-than-recommended dose of fertility drugs. Apu and Manjula have a mostly happy marriage, despite understandable marital problems caused by Apu's workaholic nature (he seems to be at his post around the clock), the strain of caring for eight children, and a single instance of infidelity by Apu. (Well...okay, twice.)

Apu is a naturalized U.S. citizen, and holds a Ph.D. in computer science. He graduated first in his class of nine million at 'Caltech'—the Calcutta Institute of Technology—going on to earn his doctorate at the Springfield Heights Institute of Technology. His doctoral dissertation was the world's first computer program to play perfect tic-tac-toe (Bart Simpson ruined it years later by plucking a random punch card out of the box along with several others while commenting, "Hey, what's this one do?" Apu promptly pitched it into the trash). Apu began working at the Kwik-E-Mart during his college years to help pay off his student loan, but never left. He remained an illegal immigrant until Mayor Quimby proposed a municipal law to expel all illegals, at which point Apu, with help from Lisa Simpson successfully passed his citizenship test.

During the early 1980s Apu was a member of the barbershop quartet the The Be Sharps, which also consisted of Homer Simpson, Barney Gumble and Seymour Skinner. Apu took the stage name, 'Apu de Beau Marche'. He and his family are devotees of the Hindu gods Shiva and Ganesh. During Apu's wedding, Homer, in a misguided attempt to play on the bride and groom's families' fear of the gods, arrived dressed as the Hindu god Ganesh. The impersonation was seen through by one of Apu's relatives and failed miserably.

Sanjay is Apu's brother who helps him run the Kwik-E-Mart. Sanjay's daughter (and Apu's niece) is Pahusacheta. Sanjay's son is Jamshed. They all share the Nahasapeemapetilon surname.

When Springfield became over-patriotic and took the name "Liberty-Ville", Apu quickly caught on. He renamed his kids Lincoln, Freedom, Condoleezza, Coke, Pepsi, Manifest Destiny, Apple Pie, and Superman.

A few real-life retailers have attempted to capitalize on the Kwik-E-Mart name. For instance, there is a chain of "Kuik-E-Mart" stores in Minnesota.