April 9, 2008

He is known as “the Good Samaritan” to the numerous visiting priests from the Coastal Karnataka region.  For many Mangaloreans living in Muscat, he had been a guiding force of inspiration and many consider him as “the Patriarch”. He was at the helm of Mangalorean Catholic Centre of the Parish (MCCP) the only Mangalorean Organization under the patronage of Sts. Peter and Paul Church, Ruwi, not once but thrice, twice as the President and once as the Chairman.  He is living and working in the Sultanate of Oman for the last 34 years but still has stamina of a 20 years old young man.  He has been considered as one of the most vibrant, versatile, active and cheerful Mangaloreans in the parish of Sts. Peter and Paul – Ruwi.  He is well known to the community people as “Dattu” (big brother).

Stanislaus Thomas Hilary Fernandes is one of the leading parishioners of the Ruwi parish, constantly and continuously supporting the parish activities for the last 34 years.  Taking into consideration his unselfish and unceasing service to the parish, he was honored by His Excellency Right Reverend Doctor Bishop Paul Hinder, Bishop of Vicariate of Arabia during the 30th anniversary celebrations of the Parish.  “I am one of the early Mangaloreans to be involved in every sphere and sector of the Ruwi parish activities and growth. In fact, I was involved in the designing of the sound system of the new church in Ruwi in 70’s.” he mentioned to www.daijiworld.com Team during our meeting at his residence. “ and truly, I am proud to be associated in the progress and prosperity of the church.”

Stanley Fernandes is hailing from Milagres Parish, one of the best known parishes of the Mangalore Diocese.  He is the eldest son of Late Pascal Benedict Fernandes and Late Elizabeth Fernandes. He did his SSLC at St Aloysius College. With the help of Fr. Fred Pereira, the then Assistant Parish Priest of Milagres Church, he joined Gem & Co. and Gem Sound - Mangalore. While working with these organizations, he continued his technical studies at Hegde’s Technical Institute as Radio Service Engineer. After leaving Gem & Co, he joined newly formed Mikes Electronics – Mangalore. “ I am greatly indebted to late Stany Pereira, proprietor of Gem & Co. for guiding and training me in repairs and servicing of Electronic equipments and uncle Mike Pereira in design, setting up and operations of sound systems for various functions. Today, whatever I could achieve in my life is due to the inspiration and support rendered by these great personalities…” says Stanley expressing his gratitude to the stalwarts of sound and music systems in Mangalore.

Later on the recommendations of Sr. Aloysius, the then Principal of St. Agnes College, Mangalore, uncle Sabi Fernandes offered him an opportunity to work in Muscat. In the year 1974 he came to Muscat and started working for “Sound of Music” showroom.  After working for four years with “Sound of Music”, he then joined PhotoCentre, the organization pioneered in sound and music. This was where Stanley utilized every opportunity to hone his skills in the fields of Radio, Telecommunication and Seismic communications. Here he had training in the High Security Systems installations and maintenance. He was sent to various countries, like Japan, Germany United Kingdom and Singapore for training in these fields.  After working with PhotoCenter as Senior Manager for Projects and Telecommunications for 19 years, he joined Hitec Center as the General Manager.  

Today, Stanley has thorough knowledge of every sector of Radio and Telecommunications fields and to name some of them are : Radio Communications /  Internal Communications and telecommunications, CCTV surveillance, A/V door phones, Security Systems, SAT TV RO, CATV, MA TV systems, Public address/ Paging / BGM Systems, Professional Audio/ Sound Reinforcement System, Fire Alarm Systems/Gate Automation, Conference / Language Translations Systems, A/V Projections/ Large visual displays, System Integration / Design and System Integration.  

With his vast and competent experience in the field of sound and music, now Stanley can identify any minor or major faults of the Sound system facilities and rectify within no time. He extends his assistance and guidance to all and every minor and major events that take place in the Ruwi parish. Even he can stand a mile away and precisely point out the requirements of sound facilities at any venue. And  today, probably because of this reason, he is also known as “Sound Doctor” of the parish.

Stanley’s service to the Ruwi parish is commendable. He has served twice in the pastoral council of the Ruwi church representing Mangalorean community, once under late Fr. Augustine Antao and Fr. Varghese Chempoly. Currently he is heading the techno ministry of the Ruwi Parish looking after sound and audio visual systems.
 
Mangalorean Catholic Center of the parish MCCP was privileged to have Stanley twice as their president and once as the chairman. In 2007 – 2008, he became the leader of the community and performed a wonderful job with a great support from Valerian Dantis, main coordinator for Sports and Finance committees and Dilip Correa, main coordinator for Cultural, Spiritual and Community Services committees.

Stanley is happily married to Winnifred Caroline, an entrepreneur in our own right. They are blessed with two handsome and talented children, Winston and Stawin.

Daijiworld.com team had a brief interview with Stanley and discussed various aspects, social, language and MCCP.  Excerpts are as below:

When you took over as the President of the only one Mangalorean organization in Muscat, what was your vision for the community?

Answer to this question comes from my heart.  We have around 6,000 to 7,000 Mangaloreans in Muscat and it has been my greatest desire or you can call as a dream to have all of them under one umbrella ie MCCP. If it happens, then it will be good for the community and as well as, we can have lot of development activities for our community in Muscat. To be very honest, it is still my dream.  

Tell us why all the Mangaloreans living in Muscat do not want to come under one umbrella – i.e. MCCP?

I am not able to talk precisely on this subject. There must be various reasons for not having all of them under one banner.  Few years ago, we had no entertainment at home and hence, we used to get good number of people attending the functions and programs. Now, people do not have time. There are other commitments. Various and easy entertainment available at home, make them to keep them aloof from the community activities.

What are your suggestions to the MCCP working committee members, current and future ?

Unselfish service is the most important factor of any service, without expecting any personal gain. It is not only the Executive Committee members but every Mangalorean should work unselfishly for the community, then only we can a beautiful and united community.

MCCP has good name among the Konkani speaking people around the world. How did it happen?

We, the earlier leaders and various executive committee members have worked relentlessly to bring unity among the community members. We have a slogan – “United to serve the community.”  Our good work has yielded fruits and we have good name. Apart from our work, it is the web portal like www.daijiworld.com given us genuine publicity for our good deeds and MCCP is known to the Konkani world.

Konkani, mother tongue of many Mangaloreans got a new life in Oman during the last few years. Tell us what are the reasons for this transformation?

There were many people worked very hard to revive Konkani in Muscat; specially we should remember Gerry D Mello, who used to do the compering at the MCCP functions in Konkani. Earlier we used to have all the functions in English and later we started presenting them in our mother tongue. We must be grateful to Borpi Mithr – Muscat and people worked for it.

When was the very first Konkani Stage program presented in Muscat?

It was under the leadership of Sabi Fernandes, Vincent Mendonca and Richard Lasrado in 1976 when Fr. Albuquerque had visited Oman. We had Konkani’s eminent composer Apolinaris Souza and other prominent stage artistes joined hands and had a “Mando” variety program.  It was the foundation to the Mangalorean association and Konkani programs in Muscat. Then we had MickMax’s “Chithnen Sobdan Kornen” drama, which was super hit. We continued with these plays and dramas and Konkani was slowly moved into the lives and hearts of Mangaloreans in Muscat.

What is the future for Konkani Language? 

I suggest to use the Romi script to write Konknai so that our young generation can understand, read and communicate. We need a readable script for our generation to promote the mother tongue. I hope our children will certainly love to communicate in Konkani.

Do you think influence of Konkani is increasing among our community?

I say very clearly, we need English for our development and business. But, we should not forget our mother tongue. We have seen the influence and usage of Konkani is increasing in Muscat, which is really a good thing for us, the Mangaloreans.

When you were honored for your 30 years service to the Ruwi parish, what were your feelings?

It was not an honor that I wanted but I took it as the recognition of my constant and continuous work of 34 years I have done to the community and parish at large. I was really happy to receive the appreciation from Rtd. Rev. Doctor Paul Hinder.

Tell us something about your early  days in Muscat.

We had a small hall for the faithful, where we have present main hall, which could accommodate around 100 people. There was no sound system. I bought a Philips sound system from Bombay and installed it in the hall. When parish started the construction the new church building, we had lot of expenses for the new church construction and we tried to collect funds through movie shows.  I used to bring 16 mm projector from PDO and hand operate the same for the communities.  We collected money by showing films every Friday. For the new church, I made arrangements to import whole equipment from India and installed in the church. Thus I have worked for the parish since its inception. 

What are your inspiring words to the new young generation?

We have lot of young and talented people working in the community. We should give a lot of direction and guidance to these young people so that we can mould them as the enthusiastic leaders. The leaders who have already worked for the community should come forward to help and inspire the new generation. Young people should accept the advice given to them by the senior and experienced leaders of our community and thus, transform themselves as good leaders to offer their service.

What is the inspirational words to young generation?

Education is an important instrument to grow in the career of anyone’s life. Study as much you can. Do not think that only degree will lead you anywhere… no…! Education and hard work is the key to success….. think that sky is only the limit and you can achieve whatever you want only if you desire.