Jharsuguda: He wanders nude in the forest: Behaves like animals but doesn’t harm anybody. His mother says her son lives this lifestyle since he was a child. His villagers are all aware about it. Meet the real life Tarzan Gopal Naik who lives in the forest. He has been witnessed in the forest of Jharsuguda district in Odisha.
We have seen Tarzan in Bollywood and Hollywood films. As far as we have seen the Tarzan lives in the forest, lives with whatever he gets from the jungle and wanders in between the bushes and trees. And in films, which are of course fictions, we have also seen Tarzan helps out the needy and at times falls in love with girls.
The same thing has been witnessed in the forest of Odisha. Gopal Naik does not wear anything and wanders in the forest. He lives with whatever seasonal fruits and roots he gets from nature. Of course, this Tarzan sometimes visits the village and consumes food at his home. However, most of the times, he spends in the jungle.
This Tarzan’s native place is Sudung village under Khuntamal Panchayat in Jharsuguda district. He looks like a mad man, but the fact is — he is normal. He cultivate his farm lands and earns livelihood.
Gopal Naik, better known as Tarzan lives like a beast, but he never behaves odd or harms anyone. He never attacks anybody. Sometimes he walks with others, but although it seems odd, locals never look down upon him or feel awkward, because they know him since long.
Age of the Tarzan will be in between 45 to 50. Even animals of the forest perhaps know about him and never attack him. It seems the animals of the forest have accepted him as a member of their community.
On some occasions he spends night at his home and again returns to the jungle at about 3 am in the wee hour.
Asked why he loves to remain nude, he said that he likes doing so since childhood. There is no big reason behind it. During childhood his parents gave him dresses to wear, but he torn it out and later started living like this.
Gopal’s mother is all aware about her son. She said, “Since childhood my son is living like this. Initially I used to scold him, but later saw that it did not affect him and he wanted to live the way he liked. So, later I did not interfere. He sometimes visit our home and take food. But mostly he loves to stay at the jungle.”
A man from his village said, “We all know about him and none of the villagers have any problem with him. We talk to him at times. He never proved harmful to anyone. If he is happy with his lifestyle we should not be worried about it.”
Although it seems like a fiction, the life and lifestyle of Gopal Naik is real. It is time to see, like Bollywood films, whether he is falling in love with a girl or not.
With inputs from Santosh Sahu, Jharsuguda
Ms Kalinga