Conceptualized way back in 1988, Aarohi was held in 1989 for the first time by a bunch of college enthusiasts. Aarohi has come a long way in all realms like providing a healthy environment for people to enjoy and promoting arts, music and culture and it has strongly placed itself as the centerpiece of the cultural spectrum of the region. The name Aarohi signifies the ascent of emotions, creativity and capabilities. It originally means the ascending notes of Indian classical music. It truly justifies the ever increasing zeal and passion of Aarohi organizers. Some of the highlights of Aarohi are as follows: Appearance of Urmila Matondkar in 1994. Grand golden jubilee celebration to mark the 50th anniversary of VNIT in 2011. Appearance of Stand-up Comedian like Zakir Khan, Kenny Sebastian, Kanan Gill.
Events
Main events
With new additions every year, A La Danse, Cynosure, Pentathlon, Purple Haze, Abhivyakti, Art Conoscenza, Halla Bol and Swarmanzar are the few signature competitions organized at every Aarohi. Abhivyakti is the dramatics event which includes stage plays and mimes. Halla Bol usually includes a social message embedded in street plays. Over the years Aarohi has seen some of the finest play performances. A La Danse and Swarmanzar are the dancing and singing competitions which attract participants from a different genre and dancing styles. Pentathlon, a group event with tasks ranging from a wide spectrum of the area is a hit amongst the participants. Cynosure is the personality contest consisting of various rounds that test the character and composure of the participant, judged by a panel of the jury from the various fields.
Purple haze - Band contest
It is the flagship event of Aarohi which pulls a large chunk of music lovers. VNIT has witnessed many high on bass, head-banging performances as well as innovative fusions. some of the highlights are the performance of Shor Bazaar and Indigo Children in 2009, Workshop band in 2010, Faridkot in 2011.
Other events
Apart from the main events, several other events are organized with full vigor among which include Shutter-Bug, Madhur Antakshari, Big Fight, Instrumentals and many more. Art Conoscenza includes various shades of sub-events like graffiti, collage, charcoal painting, T-shirt painting, street art, face painting, etc. Art exhibition displays fine arts for all three days of the main event.
Informals
These are the on-spot crazy and interesting events that always successfully grabs the attention of the crowd. The main attractions are paintball, human Foosball, zorbing while many other events like 60 seconds, Rab ne Bana di jodi, Vahi pe Nigaahen Vahi pe Nishana, etc. have been engaging the crowd from past many editions of Aarohi. In 2011, there were a total of 33 informals organized and all of them received a good response.
Social cause
As an attempt to give something back to the society, Aarohi donates the proceedings from Cult Nite as a charity. Aarohi has donated to various NGOs such as Baba Amte's Anandvan, Amhi Amchya Arogyasathi, Shraddhananda Anathalaya, Sweekar, CAFE and Kritadnyata and continues this practice of social responsibility.. Cycle rally is organized every year in an attempt to promote cycling as a means to curb the menace of global warming as well to create awareness about various tempting issues.
Proshow
Pro shows are the main attraction of Aarohi which has the performances some of the most exciting and renowned indie bands and/or artists. Over the years various bands like Indigo Children, Parikrama, Agnee, Raghu Dixit Project have performed at Aarohi as a part of its proshow. Aarohi 2015 hosted Nagpur's first coke Studio and Sunburn. In Aarohi 2016, the 28th edition of Aarohi, popular Hindi rock bandEuphoria performed. Kenny Sebastian a stand up comedian who performs on comedy show The Improv was part of the second proshow in Aarohi 2016. In the 29th edition, Aarohi witnessed the performance of Papon and the stand up comedian Daniel Fernandes In the 30th edition, The Local Train performed with the opening act by the Progressive Brothers. Aarohi also witnessed the performance of the stand-up comedian Zakir Khan. The 31st edition consisted of the rock band , and performing on the EDM nite. The standup comedy performance was done by Kanan Gill.
