Chase your Passion & Follow your Heart

What are you going to read is a story of selfless dedication and passion.

Every mom thinks that their kid is special, but I want you to know that what you are about to read is not a mom raving about her son's achievements, but rather it is an incident that demonstrates leadership, collaboration, and above all, the desire to help others. This can be displayed at in your life, family, work, community, travel anywhere actually.

Aabhas is an under grad currently studying at John’s Hopkins University. Most of you who know him knows his passion for Robotics. In high school, he was an active member of the robotics team and held various board positions. During his high school years, the only place we could find him was in our garage working on bots. His passion for robotics continues, and as an undergraduate he spends countless time in labs working on various projects like Di Vinci robot. Additionally, He has taken over the role of being an active mentor to FTC (FIRST Tech Challenge) teams in New Jersey, Florida, Maryland and Seattle. Regardless of his university commitments,?Aabhas makes time for mentoring high school students across the country. He also hosts the First updates show globally.

In January this year on his Birthday, Aabhas chose to travel to New Mexico for a regional robotics competition; he was going there to support the?KookyBotz FTC team?from Seattle that he had been mentoring. Being a mom, I wish he was with us but I told myself its better he does what he likes the most. My 1st born is a young man now.

On landing in New Mexico came a big surprise, the Kookybotz team realized that the robot was misplaced in transit and didn’t make to the destination. After talking to the airlines, the only way to salvage the situation was to get the robot to New Mexico was by road. We are talking about a distance of 1100 + miles with no time in hand. Somehow before the competition started, this seemed impossible because the competition was the following morning. This would have meant the team facing elimination from the event and months of hard work being done away.

Fortunately for the FTC team, Veer's dad & Aabhas paired up to find a solution. As I often hear from Aabhas wonderful stories about Veer Nahar a passionate team captain, Mason and all other teammates Hello from Florida. Mr. Peeyush Nahar, a busy senior executive at Goldman Sachs decided they drive to Phoenix to collect the robot and drive back to New Mexico the same day. Aabhas and Mr. Nahar drove 12+ hours tirelessly so that the team could participate in the competition.??

Even as a parent, most of us would not even think about driving an entire evening and night away to assist our child or his team. Its highly commendable and praiseworthy what they both did to ensure this team got to compete.?

Through his actions, Aabhas has shown that mentorship goes beyond merely passing knowledge that one possesses. His actions demonstrate a rare commitment to the success of the mentee (in this case, the participating robotics team?

The timely action by both individuals allowed the KookyBotz FTC team to compete as you read this article, from April 18-22, 2023, they are now participating for the World Robotics Championship at Houston. Aabhas continues to mentor them and spent four days in Seattle with them during spring break. Thanks Juhee and Peeyush ji for hosting Aabhas. Hope we also get to meet you in future.

?I wish the KookyBotz, Don’t blink, Equilibruim.exe, Juice & all other FTC team success at the Worlds! ?It's an experience to just be a part of World robotics Championship. These kids work so well under so much pressure and are so focused, just split of seconds can change the whole deal. Thousands of hours that you all put in the bots gives you true life lessons.

And?Aabhas, you make me proud every day with the young man you have become; but most of all, I am so grateful that I have such a kind-hearted son. Out of my emotions I felt like sharing this story with everyone, it will always bring tears of joy to my heart. It was a sleepless night for many including me where I was watching you my son covering that memorable journey with uncle (For my peace of mind he used technology and shared his location). I got the best gift as mother from you my dear. You paved the way for many young kids and adults to be selfless and follow your own passion.

BEST of LUCK!!