Turn the page on kindness

A city-based merchant is inspiring people with his Your Turn Now initiative to encourage the altruistic nature of mankind

“That’s me and that’s three people and I’m going to help them, and they do it for three other people and they do it for three more,” says Trevor McKinney, as he explains his social studies project, in the movie Pay it Forward. While many have watched the movie and felt touched by its message, it was diamond merchant Rushabh Turakhia who took it up as a project of his own and took it to the next level. Your Turn Now (YTN), which is the initiative he started when he began handing out cards along with acts of kindness, urging people to pass it on, by lending a hand to strangers, friends or colleagues. What started in 2009 as a handful of cards and a one-man initiative has now moved on to a global platform with the cards finding their way to 38 countries including Australia, Hong Kong, Singapore, the UK and the US.

“I realised that there is so much unkindness in the world and if someone helps us, at the most, we give them a box of chocolates and the chain ends,” says Rushabh, adding that he was watching the movie for the 17th time, when it struck him that he could change this scenario; and so began the Your Turn Now initiative. “I started out by printing 5,000 cards and within the very first year, I needed to print out 25,000. I think that everyone wants to help out, they are just in need of a reminder,” says Rushabh, who has taken to spreading the word in schools, colleges, corporates and public gatherings of various sizes.

Thanks to the social media, Rushabh has been able to take his 5,000 cards and turn it into a global affair, with more requests for cards coming in almost everyday. “Facebook really helped me take this idea forward. I had friends from all over the world asking me about the initiative and when I told them, they all wanted to be a part of it, too,” he says. Facebook not only serves the philanthropist to spread the word but is also the platform he uses to organise activities surrounding the Your Turn Now concept. “I come up with an idea each week and post it on Facebook so that the people on the page can take it up. We have so far given cool buttermilk or juice to courier people and distributed water to traffic police. I remember, they also began to recognise me after a time and said ‘paani wala babu aa gaya’ (‘the gentleman with water is here’),” he says.

Although Rushabh is yet to see any of the cards make their way back to him, he is optimistic about the outreach of the program. “I have people calling me all the time and telling me stories about their acts of kindness. I know of a guy who pays the naka fees for the guy behind him and a lady from Dubai told me how she gave the last ten dirams of her gift voucher to the next person standing in the line to the cash counters,” he says proudly. “In my workshops in schools, I tell kids all the time, it is easy to kill a man; it is saving someone that makes you a real hero,” he adds.

Accounts by some good Samaritans: Karishma Samtani (Investment banker in Hong Kong): My mother does some charity work, so when we heard of Your Turn Now, we wanted to bring the idea to Hong Kong. It’s almost an inbuilt nature now, that when my friends and I see someone lost on the streets, we turn around and walk back to help them. We even offer food to beggars. We started started giving out these YTN cards every time we helped. It really helped enhance the awareness of the initiative and made them appreciate these little acts.

Kajal Chheda Savla (works in a social media company in Mumbai): My husband is a friend of Rushabh and that is how I came to know of the initiative. The first time I gave the card to someone, it was an old lady in a movie theatre. She was feeling cold and I gave her my shawl. Now, I almost always stop to if people ask for a lift at the supermarket. My kids also pitch in to help. Once, my eight-year-old son made me make tea for the security guards in our society and he too then distributed the cards.