https://indianpedia.org/index.php?action=history&feed=atom&title=Mahinder_WatsaMahinder Watsa - Revision history2026-07-30T23:26:18ZRevision history for this page on the wikiMediaWiki 1.45.4https://indianpedia.org/index.php?title=Mahinder_Watsa&diff=451428&oldid=prevRkrakeshboro at 02:24, 25 September 20252025-09-25T02:24:42Z<p></p>
<p><b>New page</b></p><div>{{Short description|Indian sexologist (1924–2020)}}<br />
{{Use Indian English|date=April 2018}}<br />
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2018}}<br />
{{Infobox person<br />
| name = Mahinder Watsa<br />
| image = <!-- just the filename, without the File: or Image: prefix or enclosing [[brackets]] --><br />
| alt = <br />
| caption = <br />
| birth_name = Mahinder C. Watsa<br />
| birth_date = 11 February 1924<br />
| birth_place = [[Punjab, India|Punjab]], India<ref name=sexguru/><br />
| death_date = 28 December 2020 (aged 96)<br />
| death_place = [[Mumbai]], [[Maharashtra]], India<br />
| other_names = <br />
| occupation = [[Sexologist]], [[sex columnist]] and [[sex educator]]<br />
| known_for = <br />
| spouse = Promila (deceased 2006)<ref name=sexguru/><br />
}}<br />
'''Mahinder Watsa''' (11 February 1924<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2018/08/18/638958961/a-94-year-old-sexpert-gives-india-advice-on-you-know-what|title=A 94-Year-Old 'Sexpert' Gives India Advice on You Know What|website=NPR |date=18 August 2018 |last1=Pathak |first1=Sushmita }}</ref> – 28 December 2020) was an Indian [[sexologist]] known for his [[sex column]]s in newspapers and magazines. His contributions to promote [[sex education]] in India earned him the 2014 Dr. Ved Vyas Puri Award.<ref name=sexguru>{{cite news|title=Ask the Sexpert: The 90-year-old sex guru|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-28353027|accessdate=21 July 2014|work=[[BBC News]]|date=21 July 2014}}</ref><ref name=sexpert>{{cite news|author1=Lhendup G. Bhutia|title=An Appointment with the Sexpert|url=http://www.openthemagazine.com/article/living/an-appointment-with-the-sexpert|accessdate=21 July 2014|work=[[Open (Indian magazine)|OPEN]]}}</ref><br />
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==Life and work==<br />
Mahinder Watsa's father was a [[military physician]]. Watsa was [[Punjabi people|Punjabi]]. When he was around 7 years old, his family spent some time in [[Rangoon]].<ref name=sexguru/><br />
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During his time at a medical college in Mumbai, Watsa stayed with friends of his family. Through them, he met his future wife, Promila. Despite coming from different backgrounds and castes (he was [[Punjabi people|Punjabi]], she was originally from [[Sindh]]), and going against a tradition of arranged marriages, the two wed after being friends for a number of years. The couple had a son and lived for a while in the 1950s in the [[United Kingdom]], during which time Watsa worked as a hospital [[residency (medicine)|houseman]] and [[Specialist registrar|registrar]]. The family returned to India after his father fell ill and Watsa found work in [[Glaxo]] as a medical officer, while simultaneously running a private practice as a [[gynecologist]] and [[obstetrician]].<ref name=sexguru/><br />
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Watsa began a career as a columnist in the 1960s when, in his late 30s, he was asked to start writing a medical advice column for a women's magazine. He continued authoring health columns for several women's magazines, such as [[Femina (India)|Femina]], Flair, and Trend, into the 1970s until he encountered resistance from an editor who insisted upon censoring queries about sexual health. Watsa however maintained his writing through numerous alternative outlets including [[List of men's magazines|men's magazines]] (such as 'Fantasy') and, later, websites.<ref name=sexguru/><ref name=sexpert/><ref name=sex@90>{{cite news|last1=Pawar|first1=Yogesh|title=Mahinder Watsa: Talking sex @ 90|url=http://www.dnaindia.com/mumbai/report-mahinder-watsa-talking-sex-90-1997076|accessdate=21 July 2014|work=[[DNA India]]|date=22 June 2014}}</ref><br />
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One of the readers of the Femina column had filed an obscenity lawsuit claiming that the publishers were fabricating the letters to increase readership. The editor, Sathya Saran, managed to convince the judge to drop the case by delivering a sack of unopened letters to him.<ref name=ellen_barry/><br />
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Through his work as a columnist he became aware of the lack of [[sex education]] in India. In 1974, while working as a consultant for the [[Family Planning Association of India]] (FPAI), 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 1976, he organised India's first workshop on [[human sexuality]] and family life. The workshop was also addressed by [[Ashok Row Kavi]], a notable [[LGBT rights]] activist in India. In the early 1980s, Watsa left his practice to work full-time in counselling and education.<ref name=sexguru/><br />
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===''Ask the Sexpert'' column===<br />
In 2005, aged 80, Watsa began writing a column called ''Ask the Sexpert'' for the newspaper ''[[Mumbai Mirror]]'', which is noted for its witty replies to queries.<ref name=sexguru/> The newspaper has subsequently been threatened with lawsuits and accusations of obscenity.<ref name=sexguru/><ref name=ignorance>{{cite news|author1=Sean McLain|title=India's Sex Guru: The Problem is Ignorance|url=https://blogs.wsj.com/indiarealtime/2013/11/25/the-problems-indias-sex-guru-faces/|accessdate=21 July 2014|work=[[Wall Street Journal]]|date=25 November 2013}}</ref> Suchitra Dalvie, a gynaecologist, conducted a study by analysing more than 500 letters sent to the column. According to her, the study revealed a lack of sex education even among urban and relatively well-educated Indians.<ref name=sexguru/> In August 2014, his editor estimated that he had received more than 40,000 queries for the column.<ref name=ellen_barry>{{cite news|last1=Barry|first1=Ellen|title=90-Year-Old Sex Columnist Shatters Taboos in India|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/09/world/asia/mahinder-watsa-offers-sex-advice-to-indians.html|accessdate=10 November 2014|work=[[The New York Times]]|date=8 August 2014}}</ref><br />
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== Death ==<br />
Watsa died in Mumbai on 28 December 2020, aged 96.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Mumbai's famous sexpert Dr Mahinder Watsa passes away|url=https://mumbaimirror.indiatimes.com/mumbai/other/mumbais-famous-sexpert-dr-mahinder-watsa-passes-away/articleshow/79985178.cms|access-date=2020-12-28|website=Mumbai Mirror|language=en}}</ref><br />
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==Awards==<br />
* ''2014 Dr. Ved Vyas Puri Award'': On 17 June 2014, he was given this award by the [[Family Planning Association of India]] (FPAI) for his contributions to sex education in India.<ref name=sex@90/><ref>{{cite news|title=Bees, Birds, and Bananas|url=http://www.mumbaimirror.com/columns/mumbai-001/Bees-Birds-and-Bananas/articleshow/36728877.cms|accessdate=21 July 2014|work=[[Mumbai Mirror]]|date=18 June 2014}}</ref><br />
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==Published papers==<br />
*{{cite journal|last1=Watsa|first1=Mahinder C|title=Premarital sexual behaviour of urban educated youth in India|journal=Workshop on Sexual Aspects of AIDS/STD Prevention in India|date=1993|publisher=[[Tata Institute of Social Sciences]]|location=[[Bombay]]}}<br />
*{{cite journal|last1=Watsa|first1=M. C.|title=Sexual Health Services for Young People|journal=Journal of Family Welfare|url=http://medind.nic.in/jah/t04/s1/jaht04s1p36g.pdf|date=2005|volume=50|issue=I|page=36|publisher=[[Family Planning Association of India]]}}{{Dead link|date=July 2025 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}<br />
*{{cite journal|author1=M. C. Watsa|author2=Amita Dhanu|title=Three decades of meeting sexual and reproductive health needs of young people.|url=http://medind.nic.in/jah/t04/s1/jaht04s1p83g.pdf|journal=Journal of Family Welfare|date=2013|volume=50|pages=83–88}}<br />
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==References==<br />
{{Reflist}}<br />
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==External links==<br />
* {{cite news|title=Ask the Sexpert: The 90-year-old sex guru|author=Vibeke Venema|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-28353027|work=[[BBC News]]|date=21 July 2014}}<br />
* {{cite news|title=What the sex doctor orders|url=http://www.smh.com.au/lifestyle/what-the-sex-doctor-orders-20130227-2f64a.html|author=Amrit Dhillon|work=[[The Sydney Morning Herald]]|date=28 February 2013}}<br />
* {{cite news|last1=Wasta|first1=Mahinder|title=Ask the Sexpert (Archives)|url=https://mumbaimirror.indiatimes.com/opinion/ask-the-sexpert/articlelist/12439005.cms|work=[[Mumbai Mirror]]}}<br />
* {{cite news|last1=Barry|first1=Ellen|title=90-Year-Old Sex Columnist Shatters Taboos in India|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/09/world/asia/mahinder-watsa-offers-sex-advice-to-indians.html|date=8 August 2014|work=[[The New York Times]]}}<br />
* [https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6659414/ ''Ask the Sexpert'' (2017)] - [[IMDb]]<br />
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Watsa, Mahinder}}<br />
[[Category:1924 births]]<br />
[[Category:2020 deaths]]<br />
[[Category:20th-century Indian medical doctors]]<br />
[[Category:20th-century Indian non-fiction writers]]<br />
[[Category:21st-century Indian non-fiction writers]]<br />
[[Category:Indian columnists]]<br />
[[Category:Indian gynaecologists]]<br />
[[Category:Indian health professionals]]<br />
[[Category:Sexologists]]<br />
[[Category:Medical doctors from Punjab, India]]<br />
[[Category:Sex columnists]]<br />
[[Category:Sex educators]]<br />
[[Category:Writers from Mumbai]]<br />
[[Category:People from Punjab Province (British India)]]</div>Rkrakeshboro