Chennai overcome Bangalore for a place in IPL final

Chennai Super Kings scored a whopping 59 runs in the last four overs to shock Royal Challengers Bangalore by six wickets and book a place in the Indian Premier League final. Everything is not lost for Bangalore here as they will get another chance by taking on the winner of the Mumbai-Kolkata clash on May 27 for a place in the final.

Unbeaten Suresh Raina (73) and Albie Morkel (28) held their nerves till the end to take the game away from Challengers - who controlled the match for the most part.

Man of the match Raina crafted a brilliant half-century in just 41 balls and shared 61 for the fourth wicket with Dhoni to lay the platform - much to the frustration of Royal Challengers. Dhoni struck two consecutive sixes against Zaheer in the 17th over to build on the momentum however the paceman snared the prized scalp the next ball to ease some unsettling nerves.

Raina and Morkel then added 46 runs in just three overs to win the battle of southern giants.

Bangalore started with a bang, when new-ball pair of Zaheer Khan and Sreenath Aravind removed openers Michael Hussey and Murali Vijay for a fourth-ball duck and 5 respectively (both LBW) to leave the defending champions wobbling on seven for two inside the first two overs. However, Suresh Raina and Subramaniam Badrinath stubbornly defied Bangalore bowlers mixing intermittent strokes of adventure with determined batting.

They added 63 runs for the third wicket before Badrinath was done in by Abhimanyu Mithun, when he mistimed one for an easy catch to Sreenath Aravind at the deep cover region. Badri struck five boundaries in his 34 runs to fortify Chennai's position as skipper MS Dhoni walked in with a job in his hands.

Earlier, Virat Kohli smashed a rapid-fire 70 not out and Luke Pomersbach an 18-ball 29 to revive Royal Challengers after losing hurricane Chris Gayle early against Chennai Super Kings. Kohli scored his sixth IPL half-century in just 36 balls and scored 18 runs off Albie Morkel's 19th over, with two six and a four, to deflate Chennai and put Bangalore's final bid back on track.

Super Kings ran into defiance when Kohli and Pomersbach, who added 48 runs for the fourth wicket in astute consolidation, scored easily against Shadab Jakati and Dwayne Bravo to bring a steadying influence in Bangalore's camp.

Kohli added another brisk 42 runs with Saurabh Tiwary for the fifth wicket and batted till the end to swing fortunes firmly Challengers' way.

Bangalore lost opener Gayle - their most prolific batsman in the ongoing Twenty20 tournament - in the fourth over of their innings, when a straight delivery from Ravichandran Ashwin caught the big-hitting batsmen on his pads. Umpire Simon Taufel was forced to raise his finger on the spirited appeal from Super Kings.

Gayle looked in good touch when he pulled a huge six off Ashwin before going for a sweep next delivery and missing it completely. Ashwin has been Dhoni's go-to bowler whenever he wants to take a wicket or stem the flow of runs and the off-spinner delivers every time he runs in to bowl. One wonders why Piyush Chawla was preferred over Ashwin at the World Cup.

Yet to get their batting combination right, Bangalore went in with Mayank Agarwal and Gayle today - their sixth opening pair - in 15 IPL matches with no success. Gayle departed early and Agarwal too lived dangerously for his 33-ball 34.

Unlike other days Chennai opened their bowling with Albie Morkel and Doug Bollinger today who capitalised on the early swing. The pacers with their accurate seam bowling gave away little in the first three overs that probably helped Ashwin. However in-form Kohli and Luke Pomersbach ensured Challengers post a challenging total for Super Kings.

Live: India, business as it unfolds

The Sensex ended on a negative note yesterday thanks to fear of inflation. Globally, the Asian market is trading weak and Nikkei fell for fourth day in succession. The US market fell on Monday led by the Nasdaq's decline after data showed weakness in the economy, underscoring views the market's recent rally is fizzling. Experts opine that the markets haven't really bounced back and are now banking on good monsoon to salvage the falling market sentiment and reduce the inflation burden on the economy.
12.20pm: The Tatas confirmed that they have written a letter to West Bengal chief Minister Mamata Banerjee seeking her cooperation in fresh industrial investments in the state, according to an Economic Times report. Amit Mitra, the Secretary General of industry chamber FICCI, also touted to be Bengal's finance minister also said in an interview to a news channel, "Tatas will undoubtedly come...Mamata Banerjee did not drive them out." Mitra also hopes that Mamata will be able to convince the Centre, where she is partner in the UPA Government, for a package that can revive Bengal and take care of at least a part of the Rs 2 lakh crore debt it is in.
11.50am: Shares of ONGC fell by over 6 per cent in early trade on the BSE today amid media reports that the government has increased upstream oil companies' contribution toward fuel marketing firms' subsidy burden to 38.5 per cent of the Rs 77,922 crore estimate for FY'11.
11.15am: The income tax department has finally provided tax exemption on the 9.5 per cent interest income on PF deposits for 2010-11, according to an Indian Express report. Union labour minister Mallikarjun Kharge however announced that the government would look at hiking the interest rate further on retirement savings in 2011-12.
"We are contemplating further increasing the interest rate on Provident Fund from the present 9.5 per cent. This time also we want to give more to the employees. We are working towards it," he said in Bangalore.
10.40am: The Public Accounts Committee of the House of Commons expressed concern over immigration officials' alleged "lack of control" over Indian and other non-European Union workers entering Britain through the Inter-Company Transfer (ICT) route. According to a PTI report, many Indian IT companies use this route to transfer staff to offices in Britain. Since this route is not subject to the annual cap on the number of non-EU migrants, tens of thousands of IT workers have migrated to Britain through this route.
Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) tops the list of Indian IT companies that figure in the list of top 10 using the ICT route to post employees in Britain. Others are Indian companies or those in the US or elsewhere with significant presence in India. The list also includes Congnizant Technology Solutions (which has operations in India), Wipro Technologies, Tech Mahindra, HCL Great Britain and the French company Steria, which has operations in India.
10.25am: Diesel price hike in India could have a depressing effect on other items, said Montek Singh Ahluwalia, the deputy chairman of the Planning Commission. A ministerial panel is to decide on hiking fuel prices, local media reported on Sunday, a day after state-run oil firms raised petrol prices by a record amount.
10.23am: The Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) held an informal meeting at its headquarters in Washington on Sunday to discuss the fallout of the arrest of its Managing Director, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, on rape charges in New York.
Decision makers have shown no hurry to decide on the successor, even though there is heavy speculation n the same. The names Kemal Dervis of Turkey, France's Christine Lagarde, Trevor Manuel of South Africa and Agustin Carstens of Mexico are doing the rounds as possible successors. Montek Singh Ahluwalia, Deputy Chairman of Planning Commission of India, is also in the reckoning, even though age is not on his side.  Going by the historical trend, Lagarde is the favourite since in the 33 years of IMF's existence, a French has headed it for 26 years!
10:10am: Noel Tata, the 54 year-old half brother of Ratan Tata, who is the most likely heir of the Tata empire, is quietly transforming things in Tata International.
According to this Economic Times report: Noel, known for his low-profile ways, is creating independent business verticals and injecting fresh talent into Tata International to spearhead expansion plans.


10am: State Bank of India, the country's largest lender, may have to defer a planned $4.5 billion rights share issue to the next financial year as a cash-starved government, its biggest shareholder, is unable to put in money, the Economic Times reported.
9.15am: As expected the markets opened on a flat note. The Sensex opened up 29 points at 18374 and the Nifty was trading at 5502. Banking stocks opened in green. DLF and NTPC opened in the red. Stocks in news are Tata Steel, Shriram Transport, Mundra Port, Bank of Indi. The overall market breadth is in the green. Glenmark that rallied almost 11 percent yesterday is still trading almost 5% up.
9.00am: Markets are expected to open marginally lower due to lack of any strong trigger and weak global cues. The Nifty futures on the Singapore Exchange declined 10 points, at 5480.
FIIs have turned jittery as they have been net sellers over $1 billion in Indian equities due to high inflation and hawkish stance of the RBI.
8.15am: BPO Major Genpact announced that its Chief Operating Officer NV Tyagarajan also known as 'Tiger' Tyagarajan will be the new President and the Chief Operating Officer. Tyagarajan will replace Pramod Bhasin who stepped down as CEO and member of the board. Bhasin was also the Nasscom President for the year 2009-10. Bhasin said he was stepping down with mixed emotions. "It's my baby, built it brick by brick. But it's important for companies to bring changes to re-energize. We are the leaders in capabilities and skills, and our recent acquisition (of Headstrong) makes us much stronger. That is why I feel comfortable to leave." The IT industry is in a transition phase where giants like Infosys and Wipro saw major management changes in the last few months.
8.00am: A sex scandal that shook the world last week, saw IMF Chief appearing before the court yesterday night. IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn was denied bail and sent to New York's notorious Rikers Island jail on Monday, a crushing blow as he fights charges that he assaulted and tried to rape a hotel maid. Here is a timeline of events that led to the arrest of the IMF Chief.

Live: India, in real time

India is a country on the go; at any given moment in time, there is much happening in the fields of politics and governance, of finance, of development; there is constant churning in society, considerable activity in sports and in the arts... It's almost too much to keep track of. And hence, this effort: a real-time, constantly updated look at the events that matter. Refresh this page for live updates.

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CALLING READERS: On this live blog, we curate in real time the goings on in the world around us. Come be a part of the project: If you see an interesting story, send us the link to indiaeditors@yahoo.in and we'll publish it in this space. Got an interesting photo to share? Same email link applies. Got suggestions on how we can improve this further? Ditto.

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12:40 pm: 'World lucky to have Manmohan Singh as Indian PM'

The world, the United States in particular, is lucky to have Manmohan Singh as Indian Prime Minister who has taken personal risk to avoid confrontation along the western border despite provocations, but that might not be the same if there is another terror attack, a former Obama aide has said.

"We are lucky to have (Indian) Prime Minister (Manmohan) Singh who has taken personal risk along the Pakistani-Indian border to make sure that there's no provocation.

"But it's a sensitive time because another attack from Pakistan on India then it will be hard-pressed to contain a reaction that would greatly destabilise the region," former US National Security Advisor, Gen (retd) James Jones, said.

Jones, who was President Obama's NSA for nearly two years, told reporters at National Press Club luncheon that the US has made this aware to Pakistan in clear terms. 12:30 pm: 'I am in Delhi to save Karnataka'
Karnataka Chief Minister BS Yeddyurappa on Tuesday rather sarcastically hit out at Governor Bhardwaj. Speaking to reporters in Delhi today Yeddyurappa said, " I would like to thank Governoe Bhardwaj as he helped us unite people within out party. I would like to complement him for this. We would like to give him a grand reception." "I thank all the BJP CMs for their support. We came to Delhi to save democracy and to save Karnataka."
12:15 am: Adarsh: another piece of evidence goes missing
A crucial piece of evidence in the Adarsh Housing Society scam - a hard disk - mysteriously disappeared on Tuesday from the Urban Development Department (UDD) just days after a key file went missing.
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has informed the special CBI court that one out of the 10 hard disks from the Urban Development department - pertaining to the case has gone missing. Incidentally, last week the Environment Ministry had reported that a file related to the Adarsh case was untraceable.This is not the first time that official documents have gone missing in this high-profile probe involving the Army and bureaucrats. 12:00 noon: Vijender to tie the knot
Star Indian boxer Vijender Singh will tie the knot with a Delhi girl, Archana, on Tuesday.

The Olympic and World Championship bronze-medallist, who returned to the country on Sunday after winning a bronze in the Arafura Games, will marry at the Flying Club while a ceremony has been organised at Bhiwani for Wednesday.
"I am getting married and my would-be bride's name is Archana and she is from Delhi and that's all I want to tell about her. It is a private occasion and I hope my privacy is respected," Vijender said after landing here.
11:45 am:  Force India's Sutil faces assault charges

Renault owner Eric Lux plans to file a criminal complaint against Force India driver Adrian Sutil for physical assault following an incident in Shanghai.

A lawyer for Lux said in a statement on Monday that Lux will sue the German driver for "for physical assault and grievous bodily harm" over a reported nightclub incident last month following the Chinese Formula One Grand Prix.

Without going into detail about what happened, the 28-year-old Sutil issued an apology in a statement to German media last week, and said his actions were accidental.11:30 am: ‘SC judgment is erroneous’
The Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley is of the view that the recent Supreme Court judgment quashing disqualification of 11 BJP MLAs, has “weakened” some provisions of the Tenth Schedule of the Constitution or the anti-defection law.

The senior BJP leader said the judgment is “erroneous” as it is based on the premise that the rebel MLAs only wanted to replace Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa and did not want the government to fall.

Mr Jaitley, in an article, says the Supreme Court’s conclusions based on a letter written by the rebel MLAs to Governor H.R. Bhardwaj on October 6, 2010 may not be correct.

11:15 am: 26/11 case: Rana's trial begins in Chicago court
Nearly 100 potential jurors filed one-by-one into a federal courtroom on Monday for the first day of a terrorism trial involving a Chicago businessman at the center of a case that could reveal troubling links between a terrorist group blamed for the deadly 2008 Mumbai attacks and Pakistan's largest intelligence agency.

Tahawwur Rana, 50, who is accused of helping a former schoolmate serve as a scout for Pakistani militants blamed in the three-day rampage on India's largest city, greeted the jury pool for the first time with just two words: "Good morning."

Jury selection is expected through Thursday for the trial that is being closely watched worldwide and comes at an especially fragile time for U.S.-Pakistan relations. Testimony from David Coleman Headley, Rana's former friend who has pleaded guilty, could reveal alleged connections between the Pakistani militant group, Lashkar-e-Taiba, and Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence agency, which has come under increasing scrutiny after Osama bin Laden was killed in a U.S. raid on his compound in a Pakistani garrison town.
11:00 am: BSY to parade lawmakers before President
Karnataka Chief Minister BS Yeddyurappa will parade legislators supporting his government before President Pratibha Devisingh Patil on Tuesday.
Yeddyurappa arrived here on Monday night along with 121 MLAs. He is also expected to demand the recall of Governor H R Bhardwaj.
"Governor of Karnataka has been trying to destabilise our government right from beginning. We request President and Prime Minister to save Karnataka, to save democracy by recalling the Governor," Yeddyurappa told reporters.
10:50 am: Jayalalithaa strikes ‘friendly’ deal with media
"Let me strike a deal with you, friends! You don't need to follow me everywhere. I will meet you once a week," Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa told reporters. From accommodating allies to reaching out to minorities to making more time for media interaction, observers say this is a changed Jayalalithaa in her third innings.

10:45 am: Playing with Poverty Statistics
The poverty line for a given individual can be defined as the money the individual needs to achieve the minimum level of ‘welfare’ to not be deemed ‘poor,’ given its circumstances.”

This is how Martin Ravallion, director of the Development Research Group at the World Bank, defines the poverty line. In 2005, the World Bank revised the international poverty line up from $1 a day to $1.25 a day, but countries are allowed to set their own national poverty line. The Planning Commission has set India’s national line at 578 rupees a month, or the equivalent of 43 U.S. cents a day. Even assuming only a charitable (to the government, that is) 30 days a month, that works out to less than 20 rupees a day. Ranjani Iyer Mohanty of the WSJ outlines the absurdity of such a low poverty line
10:30 am: Rahul criticises Maya govt, BSP calls him a liar
The tug of war over Uttar Pradesh is now getting intense and venomous. Taking a eight-member delegation of farmers from Bhatta Parsaul to meet the Prime Minister, Rahul Gandhi on Monday openly accused UP chief minister Mayawati of State oppression.
He even charged that 74 farmers have been killed in the agitation over land in Greater Noida.Rahul said, "The issue here is a more fundamental one with regard to these villages in particular and a large number of villages in UP all down the Agra highway, where state repression is being used, where people are being murdered. Quite severe atrocities taking place there. There is a set of large 74 heaps of ash there with dead bodies inside. Everybody in the village knows it. We can give you pictures. Women have been raped, people have been thrashed. Houses have been destroyed." Full story
10:15 am: HR Bhardwaj, the man who loves controversies
Governor HR Bhardwaj, the man in the centre of the political crisis in Karnataka, is no stranger to controversies.
He is famous for jumping into controversies. He moves from one controversy to another and the latest being what many allege is playing the role of the unofficial leader of the Opposition and recommending the dismissal of the BS Yeddyurappa government.
Karnataka Governor and one time crisis manager of the Congress, HR Bhardwaj has continued his brazen acts even in his gubernatorial role. Read more on IBN Live

10:00 am: US seeks answers from Pakistan on Mumbai attack
With the terrorism trial of Pakistan-born Tahawwur Hussain Rana widely expected to expose Pakistan's link to terrorists, the United States has sought answers from Islamabad about the 26/11 Mumbai attack.

'Those are allegations, and we've asked the Pakistani Government to address those allegations in the past,' State Department spokesman Mark Toner told reporters Monday when asked about the alleged involvement of Pakistani spy agency, Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) in the November 2008 attack.

He, however, declined to give details citing it as a legal matter with ongoing court proceedings in a Chicago court.

9:45 am: Annu Raj Singh seals Olympic berth
Annu Raj Singh became the fifth Indian shooter to book a berth in next year''s London Olympics after clinching the 10m Air Pistol silver medal at the ongoing ISSF World Cup in Fort Benning, USA.

Singh, who had never won a World Cup medal before this, qualified for the finals with 389 points, tied with eventual gold-medallist Olena Kostevych of Ukraine.

The 27-year old shooter ended up second overall with a total score of 486.6 points, after scoring 97.6 points in the final.

9:30 am: Fight fuel price rise or improve mileage?

It’s really exasperating to see fuel prices skyrocketing, right? We can only feel helpless in the face of recurring and economy-driven price fluctuations.  Seeking measures to improve fuel economy is the only way to combat rising fuel prices. Do not disregard these simple guidelines; each little step can really start adding up to significant savings to your budget. Tips from Yahoo! India Autos9:15 am: Yeddyurappa, MLAs to meet president
The battle for Karnataka shifted to New Delhi Monday as Chief Minister B.S. Yedyyurappa, along with 120 supporting MLAs, arrived here to prove their majority before President Pratibha Patil and senior NDA leaders met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh urging him to prevent the sacking of the government.
The prime minister held parleys with senior colleagues on the report by Governor H.R. Bhardwaj on the situation in the state.Full story
9:00 am: Rajinikanth cheerful after chest surgery

Actor Rajinikanth on Monday underwent a minor procedure at the Sri Ramachandra Medical Centre, where doctors removed the excess fluid that had accumulated in his lungs. "The fluid in his chest was pressing against the lungs, causing respiratory problems. We had to aspirate this fluid," a doctor treating him told TOI.

The 61-year-old superstar was admitted to the hospital on Saturday with pneumonia, kidney and liver problems. Full story8:45 am: Noida protest: BSP questions Rahul's evidence

The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) has questioned the authenticity of the photographs released by Rahul Gandhi to back his charge that he has seen evidence of what he called "state oppression in Uttar Pradesh."

The Congress General Secretary met with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Monday evening to highlight the situation of farmers in Greater Noida who claim their land is being illicitly acquired by Mayawati government in UP. He was accompanied by some farmers. Full story
8:30 am: Yeddyurappa's show of strength today

 Karnataka Chief Minister BS Yeddyurappa arrived in Delhi on Monday evening accompanied by 127 MLAs. He says he is ready to parade them before the President on Tuesday to show that his government still enjoys a majority in the state assembly.

The BJP also stepped up the offensive demanding the recall of Governor HR Bhardwaj after he recommended the imposition of President's Rule.

The BJP has stepped up its demand to recall Karnataka governor HR Bhardwaj but sources have told CNN-IBN that the Centre is unlikely to accept the Governor's recommendation to dismiss the BS Yeddyurappa government.

My arranged marriage disaster

It was while recording a story about the impossibility of divorce for women in Afghanistan that Zarghuna Kargar decided she must find the strength to end her own arranged marriage. Brought up in Kabul and then Pakistan after her family fled from the Taliban, she was engaged at 16 to a distant relative she had never met and married in London after her family claimed asylum in Britain.

Trained by the BBC World Service's charitable arm in Pakistan, in London she became the presenter of Afghan Woman's Hour, a weekly magazine programme modelled on Radio 4's Woman's Hour that highlighted the terrible position of women in Afghan society. The show was a huge hit and was praised for its frank treatment of subjects including domestic violence and homosexuality.

But though her own family was educated and liberal, and her parents moved to the west partly for the benefit of their five daughters, an arranged marriage was expected and Zarghuna accepted that.

"I did have a lot of arguments with my parents during the engagement but it was something I had to do," she says. "I had to either be a good Afghan girl, who accepted whatever decision was made for me, or be a bad girl and leave. Breaking an engagement was a big thing and I got scared. So I decided, I'm a good Afghan girl, I'm going to do it the Afghan way. And we got married. The whole time it was a horrible feeling."

Now Zarghuna, who is 28 and known as Zari because some British people find the guttural "gh" sound difficult, has written about her miserable three-year marriage in her first book. Dear Zari is a heart-wrenching anthology of the personal stories broadcast on Afghan Woman's Hour. It includes appalling stories of abuse – of girls given away as household slaves to settle family feuds, of widows shunned, of wives blamed for giving birth to daughters.

Interwoven are intimate details of the author's life, including her wedding night. "God, please make sure I bleed; that's the only wish I have. I don't want money or a big house to live in – I just want this blood," was Kargar's prayer on the day of her marriage. Submitting to her husband, Javed, whom she did not like and hardly knew, and shaking uncontrollably, she spent the night weeping uncontrollably because the wished-for "proof" of her virginity did not materialise.

"As a result, my married life had begun with my husband failing to trust me," she writes. "Whenever he spoke unkindly to me after that, I thought it was because he didn't believe I'd been a virgin on my wedding night."

Unlike many of the Afghan marriages she describes, Kargar's relationship was not violent. She and Javed did not even argue that much, she says, because they were not that involved. "It was my destiny, but it wasn't a good feeling. He was about 25 – a young man – but when I met him it didn't really work for me in a girl way, or a woman way. I just didn't have any feelings and I think it was the same from his side. We were just put together by two families."

Kargar says that she tried to embrace her role as a wife, but they barely talked – she thinks partly because Javed envied her career. She hoped if he got a good job, the situation might improve, but instead she got lonelier and more convinced that their marriage was a disaster.

Her career flourished, as Afghan Woman's Hour achieved audience figures in the millions. But as her life became increasingly unhappy, Kargar found herself moved by the harrowing first-person stories featured on the programme to look again at her life. "I felt that discussing these kinds of women, their stories and the way they talked, and what they wanted, empowered me. I was feeling a kind of hypocrisy inside me because the experts I invited on the programme were giving all this advice, but I was not making decisions in my own life."

It was the story of Anesa, a woman married to a gay husband who moved his lover into the family home, that finally gave her the push she needed. For four years, Anesa said, she lived with her children, her husband and his lover. The lover was the favourite, while her sons were beaten and often went hungry. Yet she was unable to leave. Though Anesa's husband's homosexuality was frowned on by Afghan society, and his children victimised as a result, if she divorced him she would lose them. She often thought about killing herself.

In the office, Kargar and her World Service colleagues discussed divorce and the insurmountable problems facing women in Afghanistan who wished to leave their husbands. "And I was thinking, actually I have choice. I was educated, I had a good job and no children. I was capable of doing it and I had the support of the legal system."

In 2006, aged 24, and having lost all hope and respect for the relationship, she asked her husband to leave. At first he was angry, and tried with her parents to make her change her mind. But she stood her ground, and in the end the divorce papers came from him. He has since remarried.

Last year, the funding for Afghan Woman's Hour was cut, and Kargar transferred to the Afghan news service. The programme was not without its critics, as the money came from Foreign Office counter-terror funds, but Kargar is passionately proud of its role in promoting women's rights and freedoms.

When she arrived in the UK as an 18-year-old in August 2001, the September 11 attacks were still a month off. Ten years on, she supports the presence of foreign troops in Afghanistan and fears a return to even greater chaos. Her father, who was a government official during the Soviet invasion, and later worked as a writer on the World Service's Afghan soap opera, New Home New Life, now teaches Pashtun to British soldiers.

But while she was inspired by the young revolutionaries in Tahrir Square in Cairo, she is made uncomfortable by the celebrations in the west of the death of Osama bin Laden.

She kept her divorce secret from colleagues for two years after it happened, and is still working through her feelings about what happened, wiping away tears when she recalls her wedding. "I was just very upset, and very angry with everything. When they talked about the decorations, I said 'Just take the chairs from the kitchen! I don't care!' And I really didn't care. It was very difficult."

Her family hopes that she will remarry one day, and she says that although two of her sisters' arranged marriages have worked out well, her parents have decisively broken with the custom. She sees them every week and has forgiven them for her earlier unhappiness. They are proud of her book, she says – though she has been warned against publishing pictures of her relatives, including childhood photographs.

As a teenager in Peshawar, Pakistan, where women were more restricted than in 1980s Kabul, and she first became used to covering her head with a scarf, Kargar had no romantic or sexual experiences of any kind. "I was a very dull teenager, very quiet and isolated from boys," she says. "We were a girls family [five sisters, one brother] and in our culture, love stories are not really good stories to hear, so maybe those things had an effect. I didn't even understand that these feelings existed; I never even had a crush. It was weird."

What is disturbing in the book, and must surely be for many women in reality, is the way that such complete ignorance – even on her wedding night, in London, Zarghuna had no idea what to expect in the bedroom – is suddenly shocked out of them, as they are expected instantaneously to turn into adult women. One girl known to her family in Pakistan and mentioned in the book, offered in a marriage exchange at 11, died in childbirth after the book went to press – aged 13.

Now, with such innocence firmly behind her, Zarghuna is determined to make her own choices. She says the moment of her greatest strength was the decision not to have children with her husband when everyone around her encouraged it.

"I want to be a mother with somebody I love, and not just for the sake of my own happiness. I want to give proper happiness to my kid with a loving daddy if I can. But if that doesn't happen, then I'm happy the way I am."

Dear Zari by Zarghuna Kargar is reviewed today in the Review section, page published by Chatto & Windus, £12.99. To order a copy for £10.39 with free UK p&p, go to guardian.co.uk/bookshop or call 0330 333 6846

guardian.co.uk © Guardian News and Media 2011