APRIL 1979: My parents escape from Iran with me and fly to Switzerland, my mother's homeland. Two weeks later the borders are shut.

APRIL 1987: My new classmate picks on me all the time. Nobody here likes me.

AUGUST 1992: I am accepted by the grammar school. Here at last I find friends.

DECEMBER 1998: For the first time I leave my parents' home for several months in order to earn money to attend university.

SEPTEMBER 2002: I arrive at the Western station: a year in Vienna awaits, I am thrilled with anticipation. The time of my life is beginning.

FEBRUARY 2004: I am elected to the communal parliament. My father is suddenly talking to me again after months of silence.

AUGUST 2004: I arrive in India. With its poverty, chaos, confusion, its masses of people, smells and colours, the country washes over me like a wave and sweeps me off my feet.

DECEMBER 2004: My first long-term relationship comes to an end after he is convicted of a crime. He is in Waaghof prison. I feel like I'm in the wrong film and am fed up.

NOVEMBER 2009: I travel to India to meet my future parents-in-law. I am incredibly nervous. I hope they like me.

SEPTEMBER 2012: He wants children, I don't. It's over.