Book excerpt: A divorce and a succession of sordid affairs have left prominent Bombay socialite Karuna feeling battered, empty and melancholic. She looks back upon her life and the friends and enemies who surround her—neurotic, man-hungry Anjali; gorgeous, vivacious Ritu; high-profile editor Varun, with a penchant for young boys; Krish, the pretentious adman, whose wife actively helps him in his extramarital affairs. Scandalous, astute and utterly riveting, Shobhaa Dé’s first novel, Socialite Evenings, laid bare the world of high-society India and changed the face of the Indian novel forever.