The oppressive heat of the October morning had yet to reach its uncomfortable peak when we walked into tree-lined Kaiserbagh, an erstwhile palace complex in Lucknow, the capital of Uttar Pradesh, India’s fourth largest state. As part of a group of journalists invited to explore the state, I was about to embark on a walking tour of Kaiserbagh’s historic streets, just stirring to life in the early hours of the morning. To be perfectly honest, however, history was far from my mind, which had already raced forward to the breakfast that would follow.