It was some years ago. A forest guard suffering from malaria, on a lonely patrol in the core area of the Corbett tiger reserve now in Uttaranchal, shot himself dead. Two months ago, when poachers felled elephants in the same reserve, an NGO tried to boost the morale of forest guards chasing poachers by supplying them warm jackets, rucksacks, sleeping bags, binoculars and money for fuel for anti-poaching vehicles.