Apulki Chapter 9 – When Fish Curry Meets Aloo Tikki
- Hansa
- Dec 16, 2025
- 5 min read
Recap Chapter 8: A wild chase for actor Sunil Waghmare ends with the gang broke over twenty coffees, and Akash promising Yamini a proper meeting. Meanwhile, Mr Banerjee’s “boiled egg” experiment turns the kitchen into comedy hour.
Balcony Shenanigans
Yamini leaned against the balcony railing, watching Isha with a slow, approving smile. The tomboy had vanished. Standing in an old-fashioned Banarasi sari and heavy jewellery, Isha looked like she’d stepped straight out of a vintage wedding album.
"Romeo in a sari," a nosy neighbour shouted. Right on cue, a hundred windows and doors burst open at once. Faces popped up in every window and balcony, from adjoining flats and buildings, to the opposite buildings.
Isha rolled her eyes.
“Thanks for tying it, Yammu,” she muttered, tugging at a pleat.
“I still don’t get it,” Yamini said. “Neer's mum is supposed to be modern. Why this old-fashioned sari on your very first meeting?”
“All part of the plan.”
“Oh damn!”
“Now what? Did your Bejal meet Sunil again?”
“No, no,” Yamini groaned. “I meant to send this message to Bejal… and I sent it to Sunil instead.”
Isha chuckled.“What did you write?”
Yamini covered her face. “Uff… I wrote that he was looking so handsome in today’s episode, I felt like pulling him right out of my TV screen and…”
“And…?”
“Kissing him. Hard.”
Isha burst into laughter.
“Stop laughing and tell me what to do!”
“Just say sorry.”
“Say sorry that I wanted to kiss him? That doesn’t sound right.”
Before Isha could reply, Neerav strolled into the balcony.
“So, are we ready to go?” He glanced at Isha from top to bottom and let out a low whistle. “Wow! You should wear saris more often.”
“Really? I thought you’d be shocked,” she said, frowning, as she took a step towards him and almost tripped. “Neer, how am I supposed to drive my bike in this thing?”
“Sweetheart… Yammu ki khatara gaadi kis din kaam aayegi?”
Yamini huffed. “Ready to be guillotined?”
Isha sighed, long and dramatic.
Doorbells & Deep Breaths
As soon as Yamini climbed out of the car, she got a glazed faraway look in her eyes...
She saw a woman in a white Bengali sari with a red border, grey hair pulled back into a small bun, a massive red bindi, thick sindoor, and a silver plate with a lit diya – the quintessential mother-in-law welcoming the sacrificial bahu. Her stern expression would have given even Lalita Pawar the heebie-jeebies.
Isha took a deep breath, silently praying her sari, her nerves, and her future saas would all behave... then pressed the doorbell.
The sound of the chime snapped Yamini out of her reverie.
The door opened to reveal Mrs Banerjee – in jeans and a kurti, and long flowing jet black hair. Her warm smile made her look younger.
“You’re here! Come in, come in!”
Yamini leaned toward Isha, whispering, “She’s your mother-in-law?”
Small Talk, Big Trouble?
Pleasantries flew around like confetti. Mr Banerjee joined them, adding his booming cheer to the room. Isha and Yamini settled next to each other.
“Isha, where are your parents?” Mr Banerjee asked.
“They left Pune this morning. They should be here any minute.”
Mrs Banerjee eyed the sari. “Are you wearing a sari for the first time?”
Isha nodded.
“For me?”
Nod.
“Aww, how sweet. Didn’t this idiot...” she pulled Neerav’s ear “... tell you I wear saris only on Ashtami? But it’s beautiful. Excellent choice. And on those occasions, I wear exactly like this – old-fashioned, classy, traditional.”
“Damn,” Isha muttered under her breath. “She loves the sari.”
“They always do,” Yamini whispered back. “You should’ve consulted me. Haven’t you seen Rekha’s Khoobsoorat?”
Before Isha could glare, her parents arrived. Another round of namaste, hi-hello, please-sit-down began.
“I’m sorry we’re late,” Mr Sharma said dramatically. “All because of Isha’s mum.”
“What to do, Mrs Banerjee?” Mrs Sharma sighed. “They were showing Ranbir’s Tamasha late last night. I had to watch it. And this morning I couldn’t open my eyes.”
“You like Ranbir Kapoor?” Mrs Banerjee lit up. “You know, I used to be a huge fan of his father. I was so madly in love with Chintu, I once wrote him a letter with my blood…”
She paused to catch her breath, puffing dramatically.
Mr Banerjee chuckled, "Oye… take it easy, Chintu’s fangirl. Did you remember to take your BP tablet today?"
"Yes yes, I did," she replied with a dismissive wave, continuing to chat excitedly with Mrs Sharma, bonding like long-lost cousins.
Isha stared at them in growing horror, then turned to the fathers. They were deep in discussion.
“What an age that was,” Mr Banerjee said. “Gavaskar’s tuk-tuk slow batting versus Kapil Dev’s chake pe chaka.”
“Well,” Mr Sharma declared, “if they had these cheerleaders back then, even Gavaskar would’ve hit some lofty sixes.”
The two men sniggered and high-fived like schoolboys.
Isha leaned toward Yamini, panicked. “This is so not right. They’re talking like chaddi buddies. They’re supposed to hate each other.”
Yamini snapped her fingers. “Dowry.”
“What?”
“Talk about dowry. Bongs are known for demanding huge dowries. And your parents are against it. Instant hostility.”
The Dowry Disaster
Isha cleared her throat. Once. Twice. Loud enough for Yamini to nudge her encouragingly.
“Uncle…” she began. “Dowry…”Another cough. “Can we… talk about dowry?”
Mr Banerjee slapped his thigh. “I knew it. I just knew it! It is impossible that a girl would agree to marry my useless son without demanding a big fat dowry.”
Isha stared at him, stunned.
“Go on, my child,” he said generously. “Tell me. How much do you want?”
“What? No!” Isha spluttered. “I don’t want any dowry.”
“My daughter,” he said with deep emotion, “you have no idea how relieved I am to hear that. We always assumed we’d have to pay a huge dowry to marry him off.”
Isha slowly turned her head towards Yamini. Her glare could have curdled milk.
“Talk about dowry,” she muttered under her breath, mimicking Yamini.
Yamini looked at her, flashed a sheepish grin, and gave the smallest, most helpless shrug in the world.
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Pleasantries flew around like confetti. 🤣🤣
Your writing is brilliant.
Even lalita pawar would get hibbie-jibbies. 🤣
Dowry disaster and yam sheepish smile 😅
This is going good,im excited for next chapter.
And one more daydream by yam , yayyy 🤣
Sunil waghmare is back in it, now i am expecting a big hotch potch climax, well just my guess
Omg 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
Wait....but wasn't Mr and Mrs Banerjee soupposed to be super orthodox (Atleast his dad was a bit orthodox) according to the earlier chapters? I'm confused about the sudden shift in character dynamics
Waiting for the next chapter please post soon
Oh my god thoda Deja Vu moment for me in parents meet. Isha doesn't want to marry so she is doing all this for negative views. Sab ulta ho raha hai.
And wrong msg went to waghmare 😂😂
This part is hilarious..Deja Vu will tell later 😂😂😂😂