How do I display the shopping cart on the index page?

I am using 1.3.9h, and a fresh install.

basically I am a newbie and have no idea of where and what to edit to get the correct look for zc, Now I managed to display the :My Cart" on normal pages in the center column, but it doesn't show up in the index page, any ideas on which files I should edit to show it in the central column as a new section for the index page?

Since that isn't default behavior, we'll need a link to the site to see what you've done so far.

I am doing this on localhost, so I can't provide a link however I can tell you what I have done(as I really haven't done much).

1. Under Configuration -> Layout Settings, I have set Shopping Cart Box Status to 0, so that it is always shown.
2. Under tools -> Layout Boxes Controller, I have set Shopping Cart Left/right column status to OFF and single column status to ON so that it is shown centrally on the page.
3. Lastly I created a blank theme, and used override on includes\templates\custom\common\tpl_main_page.php to hide all left and right sideboxes on the index page using the following code:-

if (in_array($current_page_base,explode(",",'index')) ) {
    $flag_disable_right = true;
	$flag_disable_left = true;
  }

2. Under tools -> Layout Boxes Controller, I have set Shopping Cart Left/right column status to OFF and single column status to ON so that it is shown centrally on the page.

So far as I know, the Single Column setting affects nothing, except in the case of the search header, so I don't understand how you got the cart to appear in the center section on any page. How about a screenshot ?