“Sex is a joyful thing, but a number of writers tend to become rather medical and serious”.

These are words of a prominent and renowned Indian sexologist who was known for his notable contribution towards promoting and encouraging sex education in India. Dr. Mahinder Watsa passed away on the morning of December 28 2020 due to natural causes. He was 96 years old.

India, a country of 1.38 billion people, where sex is still a hush-hush topic with a society that carries myths regarding the same – Dr.Watsa introduced a unique approach in understanding sexual health issues and busting myths related to sexual and intimate relationships.

He was an awardee of Dr. Ved Vyas Puri Award in 2014 and was known for addressing various sex-related queries and concerns in a humorous, funny and witty manner. Dr. Watsa was born in a Punjabi family and his father was a military physician. Continuing the tradition of the family; Dr. Watsa pursued MD and DCH in Mumbai. During his college life, Dr. Watsa met his future wife, Promila.

Later both got married and were blessed with a son. During that time in 1950s, Dr.Watsa was working as a hospital houseman and a registrar in United Kingdom. After returning to India, Watsa found work as a medical officer but simultaneously started private practice as a gynaecologist and obstetrician.

He started his career as a ‘columnist’ in the 1960s. Then in his late 30s, Dr. Watsa was asked to write a medical advice column for a women’s magazine such as Femina, Flair and Trend. He authored health columns for many women’s magazines until the 1970s when his work was reportedly resisted by an editor who insisted on censoring queries about sexual health.

Later in 1974, while working as a consultant for the Family Planning Association of India (FPAI), Dr Watsa proposed that a sexual counselling and education program should be introduced. Despite oppositions, FPAI accepted his advice and started India’s first sex education, counselling, and therapy centre.

In the early 1980s, Dr Watsa left his practice to work full-time in counselling and education. In 2005, aged 80, Watsa began writing a column called ‘Ask the Sexpert’ for the newspaper Mumbai Mirror. It quickly drew both interest and censure given that sex is still a taboo subject in most Indian households.

Dr. Watsa even stimulated and inspired Boman Irani’s character of the sexologist Dr.Vardhi in the film ‘Made in China’. In fact, the director of the film Mikhil Musale had actually paid many visits to the sexpert’s office to develop Boman’s character and had later termed him as one of most ‘honest, knowledgable and experienced’ human beings he has met in the recent times.

Some of his witty replies to sex queries were:

Question– My Friend believes that her breasts are getting bigger because of masturbation. Is this possible?

Dr Watsa’s Reply– No. Does she think the clitoris is an air pump?

Question– Can Fingering cause pregnancy if sperm was on a finger?

Dr Watsa’s Reply– Why the fascination for such silly behaviour?

Hence, he will always be remembered for his witty and quirky replies to sex queries and for his notable contribution towards promoting sex education in India.