The Sexpert Uncle of India

Dr. Mahinder Watsa — who died on December 30, 2020 — became famous for answering his country's most taboo questions, from female pleasure to bestiality.

GettyImages-518521016 Mahinder Watsa
Sexpert Mahinder Watsa poses for a profile shoot on July 11, 2015 in Mumbai, India, then age 91. (Aniruddha Chowhdury/Mint via Getty Images)

Poulomi Das

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January 9, 2021

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8 min

Vikramaditya Motwane was an angsty teenager. When he was 14, his mother, concerned by his outbursts, suggested that he talk to an older relative: Mini Uncle. Motwane protested, partly because of his uncle’s reputation as a “sex doctor.” But his mother remained adamant, so at the next family gathering, Motwane had a chat with Mini Uncle. 

It turned out to be a formative, cathartic experience. “He heard my issues out and helped me so much. It was like being in therapy,” Motwane, now 44 and a filmmaker, recalled over a phone call. At the end of that chat, Motwane’s uncle handed him a book, Everything You Wanted To Know About Sex* (*But Were Afraid To Ask)

Motwane came of age in the early 1990s, at a time when Indian parenting didn’t make much room for candor. But his uncle, a retired gynecologist, wasn’t cut from that same cloth. After all, the person Motwane knew as Mini Uncle was none other than Dr. Mahinder Watsa, India’s most sought-after sexpert, renowned for making sex education accessible to an entire generation. 

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