Preity Zinta takes a trip to her roots in Himachal’s apple belt

Shimla: Lighting up a traditional ‘chulha’ in the kitchen of a rural Himachal home and attired in a local “Dhatu,” Bollywood actress Preity Zinta is back to her roots in the hill state’s apple belt these days.

Accompanied by her US-based handsome husband Jin Goodenough, she visited a famous deity temple at Hatkoti and posted the videos on social media in a reminiscence   of her childhood memories.

She wrote “when I was a little girl, I often visited the Hateshwari Mata temple in Hatkoti, Shimla, Himachal Pradesh. This temple has played a big role in my childhood and I have always felt very connected to it.”

Significantly, the Indian actress –known for giving one of the best hit films, also performed the ‘Mundan Sanskar’ of her kids– son and daughter twins named Jai and Gia, both looking in a cheerful mood.

She also posed for photographs and uploaded the video performing puja at the temple along with her husband and family.

Family members said those present at the temple with her included her mother Neel Prabha Zinta and brother Col Dipankar Zinta

After the ceremony she also drove to a nearby government rest house and met her fans, mostly locals.

Preity Zinta hails from Siyao village near Rohru but studied in Shimla’s leading  school, Convent of Jesus and Mary, and graduated from the famous St. Bedes’ College.

Beginning her career in modelling with TV commercials for Perk chocolates and the Liril soap ad, she never looked back and went on to stardom in Bollywood.

On Friday, she posted two photographs saying: “Here, I’m trying to light the fire & bring the rarely used old school chulha ( earthen stove) to life.

“Re-living old memories & making new ones. All the action revolves around the kitchen in pahadi homes” she wrote

Infact, kitchens in the hills, especially the traditional families in Shimla’s apple belt are the most important space and entire life  revolves around the kitchen in the typical houses, built of wood and mud.

“ During the harsh winters when the villages get wrapped in snow, the kitchen and traditional chulhas also serve as heating tools. Though many families have abandoned the old ways of cooking and normally use LPG stoves, there is still a craze about the traditional way of cooking as families sit in the kitchen and eat,” says Bhagwati Chauhan, who hails from Kullu and is married in Kotkhai into the orchardists family.

But Preity Zinta seems to have given a celebrity touch and message about reviving the old chulhas with hill culture while wearing a traditional dress.

In one of her Facebook posts, she uploaded a picture with her husband and wrote “When your husband comes home with you for the first time & the family gifts him the traditional Himachali Topi”  and “Pahadi Swag with Pati Parmeshwar.”