The value of life lies not in the length of days but in the use we make of them. Nothing can be truer than this when we talk about musician Nishant Acharya.

The whole nation is mourning the Yeti Airlines plane crash on 15 January. Acharya was a passenger on the same flight and is among the 68 individuals who passed away on Sunday. Known as guitarfr3ak by his fans, the 28-year-old guitarist was on his way to his hometown of Pokhara along with his girlfriend, uncle and brother when the unfortunate accident occurred.

Described as humble, hard-working, talented, funny and kind by those who knew him, Acharya was one of Nepal's most followed music educators. He had been uploading educational and informative videos—mostly on clean fingerstyle-guitar and other musical topics on his social media accounts for the past few years. In 2021, his Tiktok account blew up—going from 20 followers to over 21 thousand in a single month. Acharya's videos are watched and revered by both musicians and music lovers alike. Currently, he has over 70 thousand followers on Tiktok, 10 thousand on Instagram, and 28 thousand subscribers on his Youtube channel.

"His passing is a great loss for Nepali music. Nishant was a fantastic musician and a passionate and committed educator," says composer, keyboardist and educator Abhisek Bhadra, who knew Acharya because they are a part of the same music circle.

Acharya first started performing in his teenage years. Even though he is mainly known for his clean fingerstyle-guitar playing, active listeners of his playing can also identify his trademark vibratos and fretting. He has experimented with numerous musical genres and styles.

"I don't think anyone who met him could dislike him. He was very pure at heart and exceptional at playing the guitar," says Shirshak Subedi, the head luthier at Sahana Guitars. Subedi has known Acharya for over seven years through Sahana Guitars, as the guitar company endorsed Acharya as one of their prominent artists.

Having decided to go solo after years of working with different bands, Acharya had also recently quit his job in the Tech industry to pursue music full-time, according to musician and journalist Sunny Mahat. Mahat and Acharya were neighbours, but Mahat claims they mostly communicated through texts and kept up with the happenings of each other's lives.

"My last conversation with Nishant was a little ironic. He used to call me an old man teasingly. On that particular day, I told him how I would help him get the old age allowances once he becomes an old man too," says Mahat adding that accepting the fact that Acharya is no longer with us is very difficult for him since he keeps remembering this conversation from just a couple days ago.