Photo gallery and slide show: Himalaya in snow. The foreign tourists have fled the cold of the Kulu Valley and headed South for the winter, the hectic festive season of Dussehra, Diwali and winter marriages is over. Time to brew up a glass of chai, throw another log on the tandoor, relax and wait for the snow.

Old people in Manali village say the snow used to start much earlier when they were young, but these days the Upper Kulu Valley usually has to wait till sometime after the New Year to see its first snowfall. In a few short hours the valley is transformed from the golden browns of the dry season to a pristine white chocolate box landscape of such astounding beauty as to make a Swiss tourist guide weep into his Schnapps with envy. The amount and frequency of snowfall varies, but local people always hope for heavy snow, such as it was in January 2004 when a 120 cm blanket of snow was left in Old Manali after a continuous 72 hours of heavy snowfall.

The meltwater from Himalayan snow is ultimately an important component of the water supply for India's rivers, and the fact that changing weather patterns are bringing smaller and less consistent snowfall is of concern in a country where so many people depend on agriculture, and water resources are already under serious and growing pressure.