LINGER IN LUCKNOW

In Indian elections, it is almost a political truism that whichever party wins Uttar Pradesh wins the country. Arcing across the north’s vast Gangetic Plain, this is India’s most populous state. Its teeming capital, Lucknow, is one of India’s fastest-growing cities, but it has also long been among the region’s most overlooked tourist destinations.

Lucknow has been important for centuries and, for the British, it was the epicentre of 1857’s Indian Mutiny (or as Indian historians refer to it, the First War of Independence). It proved a pivotal event that shaped the Raj, and you can gain an insight into the period by visiting the city’s old British Residency complex.

Nowadays simply signposted the “Residency”, it has become as much a neat public park as a national monument. “I used to come and play cricket here as a youngster,” recalls Shariq, my guide, now in his mid-20s. “It was easy to sneak in – the guards didn’t really