IMAN-The Beginning
on Micheal Rozenkrantz (India), 21/Sep/2012 11:28, 34 days ago
I-Man The Beginning Many people throughout the world know about Batman and Robin, the Green Hornet, the Incredible Hulk, Fantastic 5, Iron Man and other super heroes, many of whom have been made popular through a variety of comics, movies and television shows. However few people, up until now, know anything about I-Man, a Jewish Indian superhero living in Seattle, Washington. In the year 2011, I-Man was ten years old to most people who saw him only through their eyes, not really using their inner senses, although he was actually well over his 500th year on earth. I-Man was a very unassuming young man, attending a Jewish day school, along with his sister Sophie, in Seattle. He stood about five or so feet tall, had straight black hair and brown eyes and was dark in complexion due to his native country. From his outward appearance, one would never think of this young man as anything resembling a super hero. But, most people don’t look too deeply at others, only making judgments based on outward appearance and not necessarily on what is really inside of a person. I-Man never really talked about his super hero status with anyone, and not even his parents, up until recently, were fully aware of his abilities. His sister, Sophie, who was having her bat mitzvah that very same year, was one of the few people who truly knew about her brother as well as I-Man’s best friend, a soon to be NBA professional by the name of Myles Standish. (Myles was a super hero in his own right having grown to be 7’7” and dominating the NBA. For some ten years he broke every record that ever stood, until he fell off a camel which he was riding in the offseason in Pushkar, Rajasthan, India) The special super hero powers came out quite often as I-Man and Sophie played X-box, and no matter which game they were playing, I-Man would always win. This was somewhat of a constant frustration for Sophie, often commenting to her parents that I-Man “was a cheater” and “I never can beat him”. However, Sophie knew that it was due to the super powers and when she could be on I-Man’s team in such games as “halo”she jumped at the opportunity because she knew that no matter where in the world the other players were from they were ultimately doomed to lose. I-Man, or as he was commonly known, Isaac, had also told his cousins in Seattle, Sadie, Ruby and Henry or Huck, about his powers and although they were pretty young they had been witness to I-Man and his abilities. In fact whenever they had the opportunity they would all go flying with I-Man just to ensure that the various newspapers reporting the events of the previous evening were, at best, somewhat accurate, but, of course, they never told any of their parents, Aubrey and Andrew, Mark and Susu. . Henry, being not quite two, still learning how to speak and not thoroughly understanding what this was all about, would often jump out of his bed every morning, around 5:30 AM and buzz around the house, first digging into the kitchen garbage can, throwing the contents throughout the downstairs and then putting his arms straight out, whirling as if he was a human Russian or Turkish dervish or for that matter a crazed banshee. It didn’t matter where this garbage was placed inside or out, because for some strange reason Henry alwaysseemed to know where the “can” could be found. (Of course he knew from walking around after coming home from flying. Andrew and Aubrey could never quite figure this out). Mother Aubrey, would many times be beside herself as night in and night out, Henry, once he finished eating, would throwhis food, with his favorite being spaghetti which would, at the end of Italian night, every other Thursday and many times on school holidays, cover the chandeliers and walls often resembling freshly dug fishing worms, due to the fact that Aubrey would use the organic, brown kind. At night Aubrey could be heard saying to her husband Andrew, “what is the point of putting Henry’s left over’s into the garbage as we know that in the morning they will end up strewn in generally the same places throughout the dining room as the night before”. Andrew would agree, but being somewhat of a clean freak would continue to try to find an answer to this seemingly never ending issue. Deep down Andrew was quite a problem solver, having learned about solving such things as the New York Times crossword puzzle from his father. Every Sunday morning, although the children Sadie, Ruby and Henrywould be climbing all over his body he would work on the puzzle. He would never get quite through solving any particular puzzle, and he felt as if Henry’s “garbage phase” was just another one of these puzzles. By nature he would therefore never give up trying to find a solution. During Henry’s almost second year, Aubrey and Andrew thought well, this is it, we’ll have no more children as this one is totally out of control”. Henry, unbeknownst to his parents, was only acting out the previous night’s escapades, but parents being parents, even though these two were quite openmore than most other people to the possibilities that abound when ones really looks at things and doesn’t just let things slide, never quite grasped what was happening. In fact as we’ll find out in I-Man’s story, Aubrey and Andrew, as their children were approaching their college years, opened up a home for special children and to this day they’ve actually been parents to around 531 children from across the universe, well, at least throughout the world. They were never quite sure what motivated them to do this, maybe it was just the presence of I-Man and the persistence of their ownchildren, Sadie, Ruby and Henry in constantly egging their parents on to having more and more children. Aubrey and Andrew remain to this day totally exhausted, but have done tremendous good throughout the world in helping those who never knew their birth parents. Sophie, being a teenager and needing her sleep, would typically stay home from the flying escapades, but knew quite a bit about these nightly sojourns, mainly through the Seattle and New York Times and Times of India which regularly reported on the “so called miracles” which occurred on a daily basis. This was especially truein the Times of India, where in India, as we all know, miracles occur on a regular basis. Sophie, knowing something about her brother’s time on earth was an avid reader of the Times of India, on-line of course. Whenever Sophie and I-Man’s parents would read the Seattle Times and on Sunday’s, the New York Times, and comment, “oh this stuff must be totally made up” and “what is happening to the reporting in our newspapers these days”, Sophie and I-Man would just look at each other and laugh hysterically. Sophie and I-Man’s parents Mark and Susu would just ignore them, but somehow knew that they had secrets, which as parent’s they would never fully understand. Let me say here a bit more about the almost nightly flying which none of the parents knew about. This was totally due to the fact that once their parents went to sleep, and this was always fairly early as thechildren exhausted them for just this purpose, I-Man would pop over typically through the 1” diameter hole in the roof directly above Ruby and Sadie’s bed and off they would all go. (This was never an issue for Henry, as he woke up at the same time every night and would somehow find himself inhis sister’s bedroom. Being not quite two none of this was entirely clear to him, although he knew that he loved throwing things and that his nightly jaunts would always result in developing his arms. Henry later in life became one of the greatest ambidextrous pitchers/bowlers in both the majorleague baseball and IPL cricket leagues. To this day nobody has ever broken any of his records, which includes the lowest earned run average and bowling the least amount of balls/over). Due to the 1” diameter hole, sometimes, when it rained, the girls would complain about getting wet when they went to sleep, but Andrew being quite near sited, would always say, “girls, just stop spitting at one another and go to sleep”. Aubrey would typically retort to Andrew, “my girls don’t spit. This must be from your side of the family”. This might go on for quite some time into the night and it worked to the girls and Henry’s advantage, as once their parent’s heads hit their pillows they would not wake until the next morning when the girls and Henry would get up as early as possible, further exhausting their parents. Now Uncle Andrew and Aunt Aubrey, being somewhat open tothe possibilities more so than most people, had some inkling of I-Man’s powers, but weren’t quite convinced, as Andrew, often imitating the voice of his 89 year old accountant Saul would say to Aubrey, “there’s something darn right strange about that boy, but I just don’t know”. (Of course Andrew, and for that matter his brother Mark, but not so much their sister Wendy, were somewhat aware of super heroes and other mystical beings, because as boys, growing up in a very wooded place called Chappaqua, on the banks of the Ganges River, they dabbled a bit with the Aggresta Gang, a ruthless bunch of children from the hinterland of Nebraska, being part of the Korbi tribe, with their ancestors originating from the northeastern part of India, known as Assam. While Mark, Andrew and Wendy spent their days playing murder ball with the Aggresta Gang at the Chappaqua on the Ganges Swimming Club, they knew that something wasn’t quite right, especially with Emily Aggresta, who they would often find hovering over them, even in their home in the middle of the night, with her feet, toes, hands and fingers moving about like the propeller on a helicopter. One day they happened to seeher tri-forked, somewhat purplish tongue hanging out of her mouth as the murder ball during that morning’s game happened to hit her directly in her Adam’s apple. They didn’t know it at the time as they were just being children, but the Aggresta Gang would play a significant role when I-Manactually came into being, but more about that later). I-Man was a special kind of a guy, having actually been born in a remote village, some 500+ years earlier in the state of Andaman and Nicobar Islands about 600 miles due east of the State of Tamil Nadu on the Indian sub-continent. His originalparents being part of the Sentinelese tribe, however, like many of the villagers in India and living under the somewhat slavery of the Mogul Emperor at that time, didn’t have much and when their son was born, already having had 16 children, could hardly afford to feed another. Unfortunately forthem they knew nothing about Krishna’s powers, for that is what they had named I-Man, although they must have had some notion, having named him after this Indian Hindu God. Being loving parents they decided that the best thing for Krishna would be to try to get him to Europe, which had somehow manifested itself in a simultaneous dream to both parents on a lovely winter’s evening when the moon was shining as brightly as anyone at that time could ever remember, and then eventually to America, the land of hope and opportunity for all Indians, even during those times long ago, no matter whothey were. The question, of course, was how to do this especially given that they were part of the very small Sentinelese tribe, and didn’t have a lot of connections with the outside world, or for that matter outside of their village. To Krishna’s parents, Sarvesh and Deepika, getting their son to Europe and then America was literally a dream and even though they only knew the names of these far off places and for that matter only from this strange dream, deep down in their hearts they felt that this would be the best thing for Krishna and his seven brothers and nine sisters. After muchdiscussion with the local village chief and elders, and unbeknownst to the Mogul Emperor of that time, Vinesh the Dastardly or VD to those who knew him well, Sarvesh and Deepika decided that they must send Krishna to the mainland where he could be brought to the palace of VD, in Madras, Tamil Nadu. Sarvesh and Deepika felt that this held out the best opportunity for their beloved son Krishna, who they knew would do great things in the world if only given the opportunity. On December 6, in about the year 1513 with heavy hearts, Sarvesh and Deepika and their 16 children bid a fond farewell to their beloved Krishna, not really knowing whether they would ever see him again, but knowing deep down in their bodies that he would always be with them. Sarvesh and Deepika decided that they must follow their simultaneous dream and the advice of their village chief and elders, who said to putthe boy in a basket, somewhat like a Jewish boy names Moses, although they had little idea of this Moses, and set him out into the Bay of Bengal/Indian Ocean, where eventually he would land in Madras off of the coast of the India subcontinent in the State of Tamil Nadu. The basket boat in whichKrishna (I-Man) was placed was larger than the one that carried the young Moses who was set adrift in the Nile. (When Moses was found nobody at that time knew it, but the fact remains that he actually started the middle eastern revolution of 2011, which ended up, somewhat freeing that area of the world, and for that matter the entire world, from a certain type of dictator. But as we all know from the rock band the Who, who said so very eloquently, “Meet the new boss, same as the old boss”, other types of dictators remained or were only replaced. This revolution also spread to China, in which I-Man actually helped to overthrow the so called “communist regime” of what were really a corrupt group of capitalists who were running the show. People also don’t know this fact but I-Man was a direct descendant of Moses, so in fact he helped to start a worldwide revolution which ushered in a time in which there was worldwide prosperity for all. But more about this later ) Although Krishna (I-Man) appeared to his parents to be only six months, as we all know he had wisdom beyond his years and could sail his basket boat to the shores of Tamil Nadu without much problem. Sarvesh, being primarily a fisherman had taken great pains to construct the basket boat out of the finest trees which he could find. He also covered the basket boat with multiple butterfly bushes which he knew would provide cover for Krishna and attract butterflies, even in the ocean. This resulteddirectly in flying and other types of fish trying to eat the butterflies and landing in the boat, providing a great source of protein for young Krishna. Although Krishna was quite young the fact that his father was a fisherman had instilled in his DNA the ability to catch, skin and eat fish. During his approximately 24 day trip to the shores of Tamil Nadu, the young Krishna, of course, had numerous adventures. During the 1500’s, as we all know the Bay of Bengal/Indian Ocean was fully inhabited by a variety of sea creatures, including whales very unlike those of today, sea serpents, mermaids, krakens, Megalodons and giant squid. Although Sarvesh and Deepika and their 16 children knew this, they felt that Krishna would be just fine, given that deep down they felt that he was very special. In fact, once any type of living creature came into contact with Krishna, they became quitedocile and friendly because they could also feel his superpowers and especially his kindness. Although many others were afraid of these sea monsters, they would often attach themselves or just swim very closely to Krishna’s basket boat. The mermaids, as we all know being quite motherly, wouldoften hang on to the basket boat and make sure that Krishna was getting enough food to eat and was kept warm. They would also often stroke his hair and sing him to sleep which would come to haunt Krishna (I-Man) later in life as he was constantly looking for a mermaid to marry. Krishna’s biggest problems were, of course, the various bands of pirates which inhabited the Bay of Bengal/Indian Ocean. These pirates were the ancestors of the Somali pirates who were later wiped out when an actor named John Q. Deep, who starred as Captain Jack and a co-star stunt man who went by the name of Trampus, appearing in about 13 episodes of the Pirates of the Caribbean movies, decided, after the nations of the world unsuccessfully tried to take on these pirates, who later kidnapped all of the BRIC and G-8 world leaders and while a startled world watched, made them all walk the plank into the mouth of a Megalodon, defeated the pirates with a bit of chicanery. Of course, Krishna, who became I-Man in about the mid 1900’s was part of this defeat, taking as many as 236 pirates hostage and putting them into a cage that he devised on the Maldives Islands, but this too is another story. Through the help of his sea creature friends, Krishna, although somewhat concerned with the pirates, was able to avoid any major confrontations. The pirates did notice his basket boat, but like all people they also really love butterflies. The combination of the butterflies, flying fish and sea creatures kept the pirates at bay, never really once trying to overtake the basket boat steered by Krishna with an overall mastery for navigating the high seas. Krishna, even though he was only around six months at the time to anyone who saw him, was truly a remarkable young man. On December 30 he landed on the shores of Tamil Nadu in time for the new year of 1514 and ready to be taken to the palace of Vinesh the Dastardly.