Simerg Photos

001: A view of the forests and Rocky Mountains from a memorial bench off Hwy 40, Kananaskis Country. See corresponding tribute in photo 002, and another view of the mountains from the bench in photo 003 below; July 1, 2022. Photo: Malik Merchant/Simerg Photos. By MALIK MERCHANTPublisher/Editor Simergphotos, Barakah, and Simerg Over the past month, I have had the good fortune of ...

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While aboard the International Space Station (ISS), NASA Flight Engineer Megan McArthur discussed life and work on the orbital outpost during an in-flight educational event with students involved with the Aga Khan Education Board in Sugar Land, Texas. McArthur arrived on the ISS aboard the SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft "Endeavour" for a planned six-month. The spacecraft docked into the ISS in ...

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By MALIK MERCHANTPublisher/Editor Simergphotos, Barakahand Simerg What a dramatic change a few days can make! Compared to last week, the autumn foliage is fading fast, and the once vibrant red and orange leaves are losing their colours and falling to the ground in large numbers. I don't recall publishing night time photos of the foliage, and November 11, 2021 just happened ...

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By MALIK MERCHANTPublisher/Editor Simergphotos, Barakahand SimergAutumn colours, Aga Khan Park by Wynford Drive, Toronto; November 5, 2021. Photo: Malik Merchant/Simergphotos. We are now waking up to cooler mornings after an unusually warm October. The great "Salmon Run" that promised plenty of salmon in some of Toronto's rivers (Humber River, Don River and Highland Creek) during October never really took off but ...

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We are delighted to present a selection of bird and animal pictures taken recently by Shannon Dowern at Toronto's East Don Trail. Of particular interest to Simergphotos are the photos of the beautiful red bird, the Cardinal, and the Oriole which have eluded the lens of Malik Merchant, the editor of this blog, who has been posting nature photos taken at ...

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A close-up of the Simurgh vase at Aga Khan Museum's beautiful Bellerive Room. Photo: © Malik Merchant/Simergphotos. By AFRAAZ MULJI My favourite ceramic artefact from the Prince Sadruddin collection at the Aga Khan Museum is known as Simurgh, after the Conference of the Birds story by Attar. [1] I have always been drawn to birds and the art of flight, both in ...

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Tulips at Rideau Falls Park around a wall containing tiles from Iznik, a town which is the centre for ceramics in Turkey. Tulips originated in Turkey and were a common theme in Turkish art. May 20, 2021. Photo: © Malik Merchant/Simergphotos. By MALIK MERCHANT (Publisher-Editor, Barakah, Simerg and Simergphotos) I finally made it to Ottawa after 15 months, and I was absolutely ...

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By NURIN MERCHANTCo-Editor Simergphotos, Barakahand Simerg A few days before the celebration of Navroz on March 21, 2021, the Aga Khan Park in Toronto put up several display panels explaining the significance of the New Year and the importance of the spring season in world faiths and traditions. Rumi's poems shown on a couple of panels made references to numerous flowers ...

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By MALIK MERCHANT (Publisher-Editor, Barakah, Simerg and Simergphotos) VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIAA view of a magnificent piece of native Japanese art sculpted by Nuburi Toko. The moon is high up in the sky, with the sunset about to occur in the next 30 minutes from the time this photo was taken at 7:40 PM. The pole points across the ocean to the ...

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By MALIK MERCHANT (Publisher-Editor, Barakah, Simerg and Simergphotos)Magnolia flowers on tree #049 at Toronto's Aga Khan Park, behind the Ismaili Centre building in Toronto. Photo: © Malik Merchant / Simergphotos. I have travelled from Ontario to Vancouver to pay my respects to my mother, "mummy" as I would fondly call her, who passed away on January 21, 2021 at the age ...

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Flags at Aga Khan Park, by Wynford Drive. From nearest -- The Maple Leaf of Canada, the Province of Ontario, the City of Toronto and the Ismaili Flag. April 7, 2021. Photo: © Malik Merchant/Simergphotos. By MALIK MERCHANTPublisher/Editor Simergphotos, Barakahand Simerg I begin with the flags because I love my Ismaili Muslim community into which I was born, I love the city ...

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By MALIK MERCHANTPublisher/Editor Simergphotos, Barakahand Simerg There appears to be nothing extraordinary about the first photo I am presenting to readers of Simergphotos as "Photo(s) of the Day" -- it could have been an action packed photo with the individual, Shamshu Alidina, a great cricketer in his youth days, punching a cricket ball with his Gray Nicolls bat to the cover ...

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Photos by MUSLIM HARJI As hundreds of millions of Christians around the world celebrate Easter Sunday on April 4, 2021, in unusual circumstances again this year due to the coronavirus pandemic, we present these images captured by Muslim Harji during his travels around the world. The photographs shown on this page are part of a broader presentation of Harji's highly acclaimed ...

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Shiraz Bandali (1959-2016) Introduced by MALIK MERCHANT Publisher/Editor Simergphotos, Barakahand Simerg Sometime before his untimely death at the age of 56, my friend Shiraz Bandali of Edmonton, Canada, sent me a collection of several beautiful photos of "DOORS" that he had taken during his 2010 family trip to Morocco, Spain and Portugal. Alas, the task of identifying the exact location of each ...

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By MALIK MERCHANTPublisher/Editor Simergphotos, Barakahand Simerg A Family Enjoys a Beautiful Spring AfternoonThe Bahram family from Afghanistan enjoy an outing at Toronto's Aga Khan Park on March 17, 2021, with the dome of the Ismaili Headquarters Jamatkhana in the background. Photo: © Malik Merchant/Simerg. The Aga Khan Park's newest outdoor exhibit began unfolding before my eyes, as I watched 5 magnificent ...

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By MALIK MERCHANT We are a week away before a new day, a new year dawns for hundreds of millions of people in Central and Southern Asia, the Middle East and diasporic communities living around the world. March 20 or 21 also sees the beginning of the spring season in the Northern Hemisphere. We bring you these photos as we await ...

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MALIK MERCHANTPublisher/Editor Simergphotos, Barakahand Simerg "NO DEADLY VIRUS EVER, VACCINE FOR COVID-19, NO WARS, CLEANER WATER, HAPPINESS FOR EVERYONE IN THE WORLD" Before its latest shutdown due to provincial regulations, Toronto's Aga Khan Museum gave visitors an interesting opportunity to pen their heartfelt wishes on one of several beautiful pre-designed tiles available at the museum bookstore, and post them onto a ...

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The Big Heech Sculpture at the Aga Khan Museum, as an indigo coloured light is projected on the museum wall. The sculpture is the work of acclaimed Iranian-Canadian artist, Parviz Tanavoli. On the panel explaining the sculpture Parviz notes, "Heech has multiple layers of meaning -- in Persian Sufism it has a great meaning: God created the universe out of nothing, so ...

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By MALIK MERCHANTPublisher-Editor Simergphotos, Simerg, and BarakahJuly 4, 2020, 9:41 PM: A view of Downtown Toronto from the Aga Khan Park, behind Ismaili Centre. Photo: Malik Merchant / Simergphotos. The sky in Toronto on July 4 at 9 P.M. was still bright. I was at the Aga Khan Park (2015) which separates two majestic buildings -- the Aga Khan Museum and ...

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At bottom of this collage photo of Aga Khan Museum, an image of Museum Donor Wall, with plaque recognizing Mawlana Hazar Imam, His Highness the Aga Khan, as founder and vision behind the Museum (enlargement shown at left). Photo: Malik Merchant / Simerg. Story and photos by MALIK MERCHANT Publisher-Editor Simergphotos, Simerg, and Barakah I wondered what the experience of attending the ...

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