Jamie is currently en route to Delhi right now, via London (eat some salted cashews for all of us, J!) Unfortunately, thanks to a canceled United flight (with no notice), I’m still in rainy San Fran (BOO!).

When I arrived at the airport this morning they informed me that I couldn’t fly to Delhi via Beijing without a Chinese visa because my itinerary said I was staying in Beijing for over 24 hours. What?! A 28-hour layover? That was definitely NOT in my original plans. But apparently United/Air China canceled my original Beijing to Delhi flight and without telling me, booked me on a flight that left the following day (moral of the story: think twice before flying United).

Rather than camp out in the Beijing airport and risk deportation due to lack of a visa, I’m just flying to Beijing/Delhi tomorrow morning…certainly not my ideal situation. The good news is, while this sets me back a day, it doesn’t interrupt too much of our itinerary. As soon as I get to Delhi, we’ll hop a train to Jaipur to meet up with the Ruth clan.

Just hoping that Jamie can survive a day in Delhi left to his own devices We shall see…

Well, sort of. We’re finally leaving rainy San Francisco tomorrow (on separate flights, going opposite ways around the world), and should arrive in India in the wee hours of Thursday morning. That means all 75 minutes or so of my Christmas will be spent in Heathrow Terminal 5, while Ramya gets a little longer to enjoy the holiday during her layover in Beijing’s airport. Incidentally, all Ramya and I wanted for Christmas this year was ramen and over-cooked pubfood, so this is going to work out really well.

Enjoy our first video as we set off for India (and Ramya almost breaks her back before we even get there).

God(s) know(s) the Taj Mahal has been photographed millions of times (and we’ll snap a few of our own) but we also want to know what images you think we should capture while we’re in India.

From the artful to the obscure (and downright ridiculous) we’ll do our best to fulfill your requests — just leave them in the comments

Jamie said I had to post something or I would lose my blogging privileges, so here is a short list of things I am excited for on our trip:

• Seeing my family!! (especially my cousin Bhargav whom I have yet to meet)
• Overnight train rides (umm, not really, but the stories should be good)
• Visiting the Taj Mahal and other touristy places I’ve never been
• Roadside carts, mango juice, Grand Sweets and Thumbs Up cola (the best soda in the world)
• The sweet smell of cow dung and auto exhaust
• Not having a cell phone or email for 2 weeks (I know you’ll miss me)

We’re 7 days out, so I just popped my first “Lariam,” an anti-malarial agent known to cause “vivid” and “abnormal dreams”.

In preparation for our whirlwind tour of India — a journey that begins a week from today — I picked up a copy of In Spite of the Gods: The Rise of Modern India by Edward Luce. Ramya and others are probably sick of hearing me talk about this book, but since we’re not actually in India yet it’s about all I have to talk about for now.

Luce, a Brit who has lived in India for the better part of a decade, offers a unique perspective on the opportunities and challenges facing India at the dawn of the 21st Century. Through a collection of historical and personal anecdotes, he puts post-independence India in its broader political / economic / religious / social / cultural / historical context (”broader societal context” would just sound too stuffy). It’s a fascinating story of the world’s largest democracy that conjures up all sorts of interesting contrasts with American society, as well as China and other developing nations.

Luce’s account has made me all the more excited to experience this mind-blowingly diverse nation — and grateful (albeit overwhelmed) that our 15-day journey will give us a glimpse of no less than 7 of India’s 28 states!

And we’re very excited about India!

Jamie’s particularly excited to be testing his new WordPress iPhone application, which should make blogging from anywhere in India with a WiFi connection a breeze… in theory.