The farmers of Ooty want to cut trees, but the Forest department would not permit them to. The issue pertains to the silver oak, the "shade tree" grown in the plantations. To the farmers of Nilgiris, the silver oak is their provident fund. They use it during difficult times, either to marry off their children or for their education. Of late, the farmers look up at the tree as their saviour from the 'hand-to-mouth' existence that they are being driven into by the crashing tea prices.