Do not mistrust your ears if you come across the music of a sitar sting being strummed intertwined with notes of violin or beats of Idakka, as you pass through Kottamuri near here. The magical hands of K V Rajappan, popularly known as Thrikkodithanam Rajappan, a trained sitarist who hails from Kottamuri, also gives life to a variety of musical instruments including sitar, veena, tabala, flute, violin and idakka. Each musical instrument has its own tone which can only be produced by an expert hand, says Rajappan. There are also a lot of secrets connected with the making of these instruments. “Any one with a little skill can make a musical instrument. But the most strenuous part of the production is to provide life to it by imparting their respective tone,” says Rajappan. The tone of sitar is different from that of veena or guitar and the music of violin is different from that of the harmonium. “If an instrument fails to produce its genuine tone the production becomes a failure,” he said. Rajappan says the business is not much profitable and has not helped him earn much in life. “Now there is also the problem of non-availability of raw materials,” says Rajappan. He has great esteem for the sitar maestros like Nikhil Banerji, Pandit Ravi Shankar and Ustad Vilayat Khan. Rajappan’s life took a new turn 25 years ago when Thiruvananthapuram- based musician Poudikonam Ajith Kumar visited Changanassery for a concert. Rajappan went for the concert and was greatly attracted by it. Their friendship grew and Ajith Kumar who considered him as a brother identified the musician in him. He introduced Rajappan to K K Subrahmanyan, a known sitarist and the brother of music director Mohan Sithara. Rajappan started learning the instrument under him and became a frequent visitor to major studios of the time like Tharangini and Chithranjali. From there he learned the different aspects of music. Later he became the disciple of the noted sitarist Thripunithura Krishna Kumar and once happened to repair the defect of a sitar owned by his friend. He could repair it exceptionally well. That was the beginning of his new career. Now Rajappan crafts sitars, whose costs range from `6,500 to `1,00,000. Rajappan says he uses the wood of ‘Eetty and Thembavu’ for sitar, which is made manually. His wife Rajamma is an anganwadi worker.