Bihar to miss photojournalist brothers: Krishna Murari and Krishna Mohan

The two brothers were certainly the best known news photographers in Bihar. Their phones would start buzzing early in the morning and continue till midnight and sometimes till the early morning hours. They were the first to receive information about what had happened and also about what was about to happen. And both would be out in a flash, their bag with cameras and lenses slung over their shoulder.

Krishna Murari added ‘Kishan’ to his name. Younger brother Krishna Mohan, less flambouyant and sedate, was content being known as Krishna Mohan Sharma. They lived together with their families and the house was a maze of photographic rolls tucked into every corner. Those days cameras were expensive, zoom, tele and wide angle lenses were expensive and even film rolls were expensive. But the two Krishnas were never short of enterprise and never said no to any assignment, during the day or night.

As I told a friend after receiving the shocking news of Krishna Mohan’s death, Murari passed away some years ago, the older sibling was the more adventurous of the two. The younger was more intelligent and had more common sense.

I had the opportunity of working with both. While working for India Today, the standing instruction was that the photographer had to be Murari. ‘He knows what we require’ was the explanation. And once I started working with him, I realized why. I he was told late in the evening that we had to travel 400 kilometres on an assignment, his reaction would be, “I will arrange a cab and pick you up in an hour. Why waste the night?” Mohan, who was the staff photographer at TOI, was more circumspect and would leave the decision to my better judgment. ‘Whenever you say’, he would say.

I was witness to Murari’s raw courage. Once in Kathmandu, we were covering pro-democracy demonstrations for India Today when the police began shooting at the protestors. A few of them fell and the rest took to their heels and ran for safety. There was a stampede and all of us were running back for our lives. But Murari was unperturbed. Every five yards, he would stop, turn back and start photographing. During the same trip, several policemen were lynched by the mob and Murari, without a second thought, would wade into the murderous mobs for close-ups.

I was therefore not surprised when years later Dr Ajay Kumar, former IMA President and Urologist, narrated about a phone call he had received from Murari at 2 am. Groggy with sleep he was irritated when Murari told him that he was sorry to wake him up, that he could go back to sleep but not before telling his staff at his Nursing Home to boil water and keep the OT ready. He had been shot and a bullet was lodged in his belly, Murari informed him. “Go back to sleep, Doctor. You come after having your breakfast. Your staff will take care till then.”

For some time, the doctor believed Murari was pulling a fast one, that it was all a prank. But Murari’s sobbing wife soon confirmed that he had indeed been shot.

He was returning from Kathmandu in fact when his cab was waylaid around Muzaffarpur at midnight. The robbers wanted to snatch his bag, which contained his cameras and lenses—none of them insured those days. Murari fought back and wouldn’t let go of the bag. A minute or so of swearing, shoving and pulling later, the robbers lost their patience, panicked at approaching headlights and fled after shooting Murari.

Any other person would have asked the cab to drive him to the nearest hospital. But Murari wanted to be driven home, 50 kilometres away. He was more worried about his cameras and the photographs he had taken. It was only after ensuring that his bag safely reached home, did he call the doctor. Luckily he survived with the stitch marks on his belly.

While Murari was visible and often vocal, Mohan was more quiet, more careful and more circumspect. He was also less adventurous and unobtrusive. His working style often got him better but less sensational photographs.

There was the time when yours truly received a call from the then Income Tax Commissioner in Patna. He was trying to get the valuation done of an under construction mansion, he said, but his teams of officials were obstructed by goons, he said. Could I help with a report and a photograph in the TOI ?

I explained the background to Mohan, asked him to take the photographs from adjacent buildings and not approach the construction at all. Told him it would be risky as well. He shook his head, pursed his lips and was gone. Several hours later he returned and quietly shook his head to indicate that the job was done.

But people had seen him taking photographs and the word reached the powerful owners of the mansion. They concluded that the photographer had to be Murari, who was the better known of the brothers and had a higher profile. They made a beeline to the Hindustan Times office because Murari worked for HT. And a steam of influential visitors called on the HT Resident Editor, Tirthankar Ghosh, and asked him not to publish the photograph. Puzzled and without a clue, TG played along and said it would be a decision that he alone could not take. It was only the next day when TOI carried the photograph and the story that the penny dropped. TG called up to share what he had gone through and both of us had a good laugh.

On another occasion Lalu Prasad, then embroiled in the fodder scam, was asked in Delhi about his proximity to a fodder scam accused, R.K. Rana, who happened to be a legislator. He told the media in Delhi that Rana was just an MLA and he did not know him personally. The news was received in Patna with great amusement because the close relationship between the two was common knowledge.

As we discussed how to treat the bland report from Delhi, Mohan seemed unusually quiet. After the edit meeting, he sidled up and whispered that he had a photograph of the MLA playing Holi with the CM’s wife and family members inside the residence. The photograph was produced and left viewers in no doubt that the MLA enjoyed an intimate relation and access at the CM House. We spent several agonizing hours discussing whether to publish the photograph or not. We finally did but that is another story.

The two brothers were witness to half a century of tumultuous happenings in Bihar. And their collection of photographs are of historical importance. I don’t think it ever occurred to them to hold an exhibition. But it will be a fitting tribute if a permanent gallery of their photographs on Bihar’s contemporary history, society and politics is set up.

Photojournalists seldom receive their due recognition unless they work in the national capital. But both the brothers were known as well in Delhi as in Patna. They will be missed.