‘SAANJO’- FIRST-EVER SCRIPT OF LANGUAGE OF THE MASSES – (PUNJABI & ALLIED)

‘Saanjo’ – the first-ever genuine script of the language of the masses (Punjabi&allied) – is not only richly capable of correctly and comprehensively expressing all main dialects and sub-dialects of the language, but conscious effort has been made that it fully covers other languages and dialects of the region also; whether in writing or reading form. This diverse characteristic was, earlier, unheard of in the history of the region. The ‘saanji’ (in the meanings of ‘common’) valley of the rivers Ravi, Chenab, Sutluj, Jhelum and Indus stretches from the mountains down to Karonjhur in Thar area. It had been a long cherished dream of the teeming millions of inhabitants of the valley to have a uniform, comprehensive and a pure script, which they could call their own, which could also cover their individual accent and, more importantly, which could work as a cohesive bond to develop mutual fraternity and brotherhood. The word SAANJO itself symbolizes inducing fraternity, harmony, and love. While going through the script, one would note that the second alphabet has been named ‘BEEBA’; which means ‘a well-behaved, good-natured and lovable lad’. This is exactly why it has been opted to give and ending of ‘…EEBA’ to the names of most of the basic letters. Likewise, taking inspiration from the word BEEBA, the Elementary Book of ‘Saanjo’ has been titled as ‘BEEB’- a new word which is meant to symbolize GOODNESS.

The script has 45 basic letters including a “silent character”, whereas a set of another 5 supportive signs has been introduced so as to express intricate phonics of the language. The silent character, when joined with five of the basic letters, produces additional modified sounds of each of them. The basic letters have been further divided into two sets: 35 letters in the first set, including a silent one, are main sound letters, whereas 10 letters forming the second set bear their own sounds which are also used to modify the sound of the main sound letters.

As far as technical aspects and aesthetic beauty of the script are concerned, ‘Saanjo’, written left to right, is far ahead in ease, suitability and visual effect than other scripts. By virtue of its broad range of easily readable calligraphy through modern computer tools of composing in various styles and fonts, it is second to none.

There is no denying the fact that extensive denoting of variables and abbreviations is required in computer programming, as well as other mathematical and scientific work. Unfortunately, most of the scripts of various languages are very poor in this particular area. On the contrary, sleek and smart alphabets of ‘Saanjo’ place it among the club of most suitable scripts, when it comes to denoting variables and abbreviations etc.

While formulating ‘Saanjo’, conscious and deliberate effort had been made that there is minimum similarity and resemblance among its alphabets. This makes the script readily decipherable; a quality which is considered of prime importance while going through any script written in long hand. Secondly, each alphabet has been constructed on a geometrical grid and has well defined lines, curves, arcs and slashes which enable the beginners to learn to write the alphabets with greater ease.

By virtue of its inherent potential to correctly express our language, computer & scientific suitability, aesthetic beauty, visual effect and ability to create a vast range of calligraphy, it is hoped that ‘Saanjo’ would rapidly flourish to find its due place among the masses and that it would also be instrumental in the development of our language not only in the region, but globally, too.

Attributing ‘Saanjo’ script to those who believe in love,
EJAZ MAHMOOD(Founder of ‘Saanjo’)

Inaugurated 3rd December, 2005 Lahore.