Shikha Mangal

Hi — I'm Shikha. GoTrustelle is my baby, and honestly, the project I've wanted to build for years. I grew up in a small town in central India (Madhya Pradesh), in a family that never travelled much but always made space for guests. That's where I first learned that looking after someone on the road is really just an extension of looking after someone at home.

By profession I'm a software developer — I spent years building products at fast-moving Indian tech companies. By passion, I'm a backpacker. Over the last several years I've travelled solo across every major region of North India — from the cafés of Dharamkot and the blue lanes of Jodhpur, to the frozen rivers of Ladakh, the silent monasteries of Spiti, the houseboats of Srinagar, and the old havelis of Rajasthan. I speak Hindi and English fluently, work from the mountains for months at a stretch, and genuinely believe the best way to see this country is slowly.

A few years ago I started hosting small group trips for friends-of-friends visiting India. Guests kept telling me the same thing — "it felt more like staying with a good host than booking a tour." That single line is the whole reason GoTrustelle exists. I wanted to make that feeling available to people who don't happen to know me personally.

I'm the person you'll actually meet on the ground. I plan every itinerary personally, I travel with each group from arrival to departure, and I'm the one you'll call at 10pm if your luggage got lost or you want to try the best paratha in the neighbourhood. I pick the homestays, I vet the drivers, I cook with the cooks. No sub-contracting, no handing you off.

What I want from your trip is simple: that you leave having actually felt India — the food, the colours, the chai stops, the late-night conversations, the quiet mornings on a rooftop — not just photographed it. If you're the kind of traveller who wants depth over checkboxes, we're going to get along.