Mohammad Quli, the young prince of the Qutub Shahi dynasty, stared out of the window absentmindedly although the mehfil was chock-a-block with listeners. The singer, singing one of her ghazals, was as famous as she was beautiful. But the young prince did not seem interested despite being a great lover of music.  Zafar, a royal officer and a close friend of Quli, looked at him curiously. "Don't you feel well, your highness?" he asked the prince anxiously.  "I'm allright," said the prince abruptly. "But it's rather hot inside. Shall we walk back to Golconda?" "Walk back, your highness?" Zafar was even more intrigued.
"Yes, I want to feel the cold breeze on my face and feel the stars looking down."

"Very well," said Zafar and made a sign to the attendants not to follow them. "It's a lovely night. Just right for walking." As the two friends made their way toward the fort on the hilltop, Zafar asked, "Is something wrong, your highness?"

"I didn't particularly care for her singing, if you mean why I chose to walk out," said Quli.
"There are others," said Zafar thoughtfully. "I know of a wonderful singer but she lives on the other side of river Musi. But it would be quite a walk." "We'll make it sometime .. if at all I feel like it," said the prince absent-mindedly. As a matter of fact, his thoughts were elsewhere. He had passed by a temple that morning during his morning ride. His eyes had fallen on one of the worshippers, carrying flowers, garlands and other things required for puja. She was the most beautiful girl he had ever seen. Not just beautiful. There was a radiance and glow about her that seemed ethereal.  She had looked up just for one moment and had met his glance. After that she quietly walked inside the temple.

But that magic moment had worked wonders. Prince Quli and the unknown beauty had fallen in love with each other! Prince Quli had no idea who she was or what she did. But he knew for certain that he had never felt this way for any other girl so it must be something quite special. But he was not ready to speak out his thoughts even to a close friend. So he turned to other subjects. "Zafar, do you know why this hill is called Golconda?" he asked casually. "I have often wondered about it." Zafar smiled. "I've heard legends about it," he said, "the place was originally known as 'gollakonda'." 

"Why?" "Well, 'golla' means a shepherd and 'konda' means a hill in Telugu, the language of this region. The shepherds who came to graze their sheep here had given it this name. The first fort that was built here was also called 'Gollakonda Fort'. Later it came to be called 'Golconda'."

"I wonder which kings ruled here before my grandfather established the Qutub Shahi dynasty," said Quli, "Such things never interested me before." "It was originally just a mud fort built by the Kakatiya dynasty of Warrangal," said Zafar, a keen scholar of history. "After that there were others. The Yadavas, the Khaljis, the Tughlaks, Mughals and Bahmanis. But the most significant was your ancestor, Sultan Quli Qutub Shah." "Yes, I know," said Prince Quli. "He was an invader who was made the governor of Telengana by the Bahmani kings who were in power then. When he became independent

he made Golconda his capital." "Also, he was the first king to rule from the fort," said Zafar. "He lived here all his life." "I like it particularly because one can see the entire land from the top of the fort," said Quli.  The majestic ramparts were already in sight. It was almost midnight when they reached the main gate.  "Shall we visit the other singer tomorrow?" asked Zafar.