What I would have liked to ask the Sexpert

I had not performed a circumcision for years. Pardon the gory detail, but if you remove too much of the foreskin, it can lead to problems. Anyway, the young man recovered well. I sent a note to Dr Watsa thanking him for the referral. Then something strange happened.

Sanjay Nagral
Dec 28, 2020, Mumbai Mirror

A tribute to Dr Mahinder Watsa, the renowned obstetrician and gynaecologist, who wrote for Mumbai Mirror

It must have been around a decade ago. A young man sought an appointment at my clinic. My secretary said he had been referred to by Dr Mahinder Watsa. On the appointed day, a rather nervous young man in his late 20s sat before me with his father. “Doctor, he is getting married next month. Dr Watsa asked us to see you for a surgery,” said the father. I was curious. “What is your problem, young man?,” I asked. He turned even more nervous and whispered, “I would like to talk to you alone.” I requested his father to wait outside. Once we were alone, he said, “Doctor, my foreskin doesn’t move back. I think it interferes with my sexual function.” I examined him and realised he had phimosis, a condition in which the foreskin cannot be retracted. “I think you need a circumcision,” I told him. He requested that the surgery be carried out as soon as possible as his wedding was just weeks away.

I am an abdominal surgeon, mainly dealing with liver, biliary and pancreatic surgery. I had not performed a circumcision in a long time. Also, it would be an image problem. I was in a quandary. Dr Watsa had been a friend of my father. They had worked together in the Family Planning Association of India. He had also been very supportive early in my career. Though a gynaecologist, he used to practice almost like a family physician in Bandra. It was through him that I established deep bonds with the fisherfolk from Bandra’s Chimbai village. It would have been rude to say no to a patient sent by him.

I fixed a date for the surgery. Let me confess, it was quite a stressful experience. Just because you are used to perform complex surgeries, does not mean that you can comfortably carry out small ones. It’s all about what you do regularly. Every procedure has its nuances which you learn by practice. I had not performed a circumcision for years. Pardon the gory detail, but if you remove too much of the foreskin, it can lead to problems. Anyway, the young man recovered well. I sent a note to Dr Watsa thanking him for the referral. Then something strange happened.

Within days, I started seeing a large number of patients, all referred to me by Dr Watsa. They were young men either about to be married or married recently but were not happy with the quality of sex. Sometimes, they were accompanied by their wives, who would sit through the consultation embarrassed. I would examine the man and often it would be obvious that there was nothing really wrong. Further probing would unravel other issues – impotency, premature ejaculation and even a plain lack of interest in sex. They seemed to be under the impression that circumcision would help them have better sex. I started patiently explaining to the young men that there was really nothing wrong with them. And that there was no evidence that circumcision improved sexual satisfaction or alleviated impotency or infertility. The consultation would end with me writing a note to Dr Watsa informing him that they didn’t need a circumcision.

But the stream of patients continued. Every day I would see at least two or three of them. My secretary started calling them 'Watsa' appointments. Finally, I grew a bit wary. I realised I was becoming some kind of a sex educator. I hadn’t exactly spent ten years of my life training in advanced surgery in India and abroad to do this. I called Dr Watsa. “I am not sure but many of the patients you are referring to me don’t seem to need circumcision. Also, they may be better off going to a general surgeon in their neighbourhood,” I said. Dr Watsa had no clue what I was talking about. “But I have hardly sent you any patients,” he replied perplexed.

If you have any sex-related questions -- masturbation, unprotected sex, erectile dysfunction, premature ejaculation, homosexuality, sexually transmitted diseases -- among other related issues, Dr Mahinder Watsa is here to answer them for you.

I decided to get to the bottom of the mystery. When the next ‘Watsa’ patient arrived, I asked him where he got my contact details from. He said my name and my clinic’s telephone number was up on the web page of the Ask the Sexpert column as someone who Dr Watsa recommends. I requested them to take it down.

Dr Mahinder Watsa led an interesting and long life. A gynaecologist who changed tracks to become a sex educator and counsellor after realising the colossal amount of knowledge deficit and misinformation in the area. But it was really his Mumbai Mirror column which catapulted him to fame and eventually led to a film being made on him.

At first glance, Ask the Sexpert came through as a bit simplistic and even flippant. I sometimes even wondered whether some of the imaginative questions were being crafted by a creative Mirror staffer. But the column helped a large number of people by dispelling several myths.

The popularity of his column has many explanations. The most obvious one is, of course, the subject he dealt with. But it also worked because the style and the humour that became Dr Watsa’s hallmark. He would dismiss many of the queries with a certain frivolousness that they deserved. But it was really the simplicity and the brevity of his answers that endeared him to his readers.

Ninety six is a rare age to live to in India. And that too a healthy and meaningful 96 years. I often wondered how his intellectual faculties remained so sharp. I am not sure what was Dr Watsa’s secret, though it could have something to do with his column. And, of course, his sense of humour. But I can’t even ask the Sexpert now.