inderSTADTBala Gopalan's noWHere in the *CITY

Now coming to why the term is haunting my head these days?  Could it be because of all the ad placements of Amazon’s Wireless Reading Device, Kindle?  Sure, I would LOVE to own one and yes, the two words sound similar.  So is that it or is there more to the connection here?

To find out, I started by researching the meaning of the word kindle. Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary has the following:

Main Entry: kin·dle
Function: verb
Etymology: Middle English, probably modification of Old Norse kynda; akin to Old High German cuntesal fire
Date: 13th century
transitive verb:
1: to start (a fire) burning : light
2 a: to stir up : arouse
2 b: to bring into being : start
3: to cause to glow : illuminate

So did the Tamil Kindal come from the English Kindle? If so, when and how? Suppose that the following had happened:

Circa ~1930. Imagine Sir Ckolin D. Frick saying the following to Right Honorable Rai Bahadur Kandanar mAvadoo in one of their British Raj governance meetings on the subject of equal rights for womyn:

By Jove, mAvadoo, don’t kindle (that fire)!

mAvadoo is not one known to handle well pressure at work.  Same evening, at home, he takes it out on his wife kutcheriAmma:

That badava Rascal of your brother, I SAY, let him not kindle kindel (that fire), I say.

kutcheriAmma’s brother is Ambi, the opportunistic wastrel, who shows up where ever there is a gathering .. where cause is optional but having a vanity title a must-have for entry and participation. Kindled Kindelled and dangerous, now Ambi is.  Sets off he does as kI.Pa.Cee to the next rebellion that has no cause.

kI.Pa.Cee, ka.vi.cci, and ku.rye.sOli throw stones at stray dogs, set garbage trucks on fire, and shout slogans such as:

SeiyAthey SeiyAthey
(engalai) kindul SeiyAthey

(read, don’t kindle kindul us)

When arrested for their sheer nuisance value, news of which reaches the local kazhagam (read,  Ckouncil), “friends” kI.Pa.Cee knew he never had storm the police station shouting:

vellaiyanai kallAl kindal aditha kI.Pa.Cee-yay
Thamizhirkku pudu chchOl thantha ilaKKiya wA.Cee-yay

(read, Long live kI.Pa.Cee, who kindled kindal’d the whiteman with stones and gave Tamil Language a new word)

Now, fast-forward this transformation from kindle to kindal and you have something like this:

(sir) Ckolin –> Kandanar –> kutcheriAmma –> kI.Pa.Cee –> Kazhagam –> Kudi Magan (read, Ckommon Man) –> Kollywood –> Ckomedy –> Ckollege –> Kollywood –> Ckorporation –> Ckomputer –> Kudi Magan (moi, circa 2008)

Feel like singing it to the tune of Billy Joel’s We didn’t start the fire ..

Say, that’s one theory – for now, that should suffice – on why impressions of the Amazon Kindle torment me as the Tamilian Kindal.  But why the in-my-head now?  Perhaps, it is in my nature to indulge in this past time and now is as good a time as any to evaluate this indulgence that generally evokes the kind of response summarized as follows:

vAzhkEYEla kindal irukkalAm
anA kindalE vAzhkEYE AyidakkUdathu

(read, there can be kindal in life but kindal cannot be your whole existence in life!)

Point noted.  Thank you.  Now, stop kindling kindaling me!