Nanda Bondade

Nanda was born and spent her childhood in Bangalore, India. She received her undergraduate degree from UVCE, Bangalore, studied for her Masters Degree in Architecture at IIT Kharagpur, Calcutta, India, and moved to the United States in 1985. Nanda worked at several architecture firms in California and Virginia before joining the US Patent and Trademark Office as a patent examiner in the Design Section. She became a Primary Examiner with authority to award patents without supervisory approval and to negotiate with patent attorneys and inventors. In 2002, Nanda received the Bronze Medal Award. It is the highest award given to an employee of the USPTO. In 2009, she received an Exceptional Performance award, given only to Bronze Medal recipients with 10 or more years of exceptional service with the USPTO.

Nanda studied yoga in India and taught in India and the United States for over 25 years. She completed a yoga teacher training for children with special needs at the Intergral Yoga Center in VA, and taught yoga to children at the Durga Temple, Fairfax Station, VA, and the Lee District Recreation Center in Alexandria. She was a long time Board member and president of the Mid-Atlantic Yoga Association in the DC metro area and for many years was the principal organizer of the annual MAYA Yogathon that offered a series of classes by teachers from different yoga traditions. She introduced her long-time teaching colleague, HS Arun, from Bangalolre, to the DC area, coordinating his US teaching tours. Her extraordinary skill and enthusiasm enabled Nanda to impart the benefits of yoga to hundreds of adults and children.

In addition to her volunteer work on behalf of the yoga community, Nanda provided substantial funding for the college education of a young man in her neighborhood. She also raised funds for the Chaitanya School for orphaned children near Bangalore.

Nanda enjoyed photography and often volunteered to photograph special events for the yoga community and her homeowners association. She was also an excellent cook. Nanda enjoyed travel with her family, visiting Mexico, Alaska, France, Eastern Europe and Russia with them.

Nanda is survived by her parents,Gopalakrishna and Vasumathi, her brother, Deepak, another brother Prakash, his wife, Hema, and their daughters, Nina and Smitha, as well as her sister, Jyoti, her husband, Govind, and their children, Nipun and Shreya.

Services will be held at the Pacific View Memorial Park, 3500 Pacific View Highway, Corona del Mar, CA, at 2 pm on Thursday, April 5th.