New Delhi, Nov. 30 -- A man and a woman stand near the doors of a local train, waiting to get off. The woman is 40, the man in his late 20s. They are former colleagues from the newsroom of a mainstream daily, on their way to the man's house to make out. Apart from questioning her life choices, the woman feels a certain amount of pincode snobbery-she's going to Kandivali? On a local train? At 2am?

This is the opening scene of Deepanjana Pal's new novel Lightning in a Shot Glass, and it sets the mood for a work that hides its depth in a deceptive lightness of tone and style. The latter quality is signalled very clearly by the cover-doused in chicklit pink, with two female figures sitting atop shot glasses holding cocktail accessories-but t...