Dr. Mahinder Watsa, a well-known Indian sexologist, and sexpert, passed away on the morning of December 28 due to natural causes. He was 96 years old.
Watsa was known for his work with the Mumbai Mirror newspaper as a columnist, where he wrote the column ‘Ask the Sexpert.’ The column was known not only for educating individuals about sexual wellbeing but also for the witty replies of Dr. Watsa to the uninitiated readers on the issues between the sheets.
His father was a military doctor and his family spent some time in Myanmar during his childhood in Yangon (then Rangoon). Watsa was educated at a medical college in Mumbai, where he met Promila, his future wife.
In the 1950s, when Watsa worked as a hospital houseman and registrar, they had a son and lived for a while in the United Kingdom. Watsa found employment as a medical officer after returning to India but began private practice as a gynecologist and obstetrician at the same time.
Watsa became aware over the years that there was a shortage of sex education in India. Thus, when he was working as a consultant for the Family Planning Association of India (FPAI) in 1974, Watsa suggested the implementation of a sexual education program in the country. The FPAI approved his idea and, amid resistance, opened India’s first sex education, counseling, and therapy center.
In the early 1980s, he left medicine to work full-time in psychology and education.
In the movie Made in China, Dr. Watsa also influenced Boman Irani’s character as the sexologist Dr. Vardhi. In reality, Mikhil Musale, the director of the film, had actually paid several visits to the office of the sexpert to create the character of Boman, and later named him one of the most ‘honest and experienced’ human beings he’d met.
