Even as India celebrated Republic Day over the weekend, the Australian embassy in New Delhi provided a low-key alternative: Australia Day.The embassy's members-only Henry Lawson Club was lit in orange, while a classic Australian film The Castle – with comic lines best appreciated by Australians – played mutely on a wide screen television. Expatriate families munched on French fries, sandwiches and steaks as Cabernet Sauvignon flowed freely. A Japanese woman with red spaghetti straps rolling down her shoulders played billiards with attentive young men.

Guests had gathered in groups. Whites and reds splashed in wine glasses as arms gesticulated in argumentative conversations. On the verandah, mock cowboys and cowgirls jovially mowed down bad guys with mock pistols. Not far away, two women appeared determined not getting distracted from their discussion about Delhi's best furniture showrooms.

But the number of guests was not impressive. This was unusual. In a story last year about New Delhi's embassy parties, the Delhi-based Outlook magazine had observed mad scrambling "to get on to the guest list, whenever there's talk of an embassy celebrating a national day, hosting a sit-down dinner, or having a cultural event."

"Where are all the Australians?" demanded a burly man in sea-blue Hawaiian shirt. "There are very few Australians in Delhi," replied another.

"But the embassy building is so huge," a woman exclaimed. Her companion, in crushed blue FCUK denim, sneered, "The people of the embassy don't live in real India. They get 24 hour power and water supply."

"Ask me. I live in Lajpat Nagar," laughed a passing blonde.

What’s it all about?

Meanwhile, the next cluster went into twitters when an Indian guest loudly wondered about the history of Australia Day. A venerable old lady, in a brown tweed overcoat, uncertainly murmured of independence – a wild assumption immediately refuted. One suggested it marked the day in 1901 when the country turned into a federation. Another declared it was the day James Cook landed on the shore. Suddenly "yeah", "you got it", "that's true" started tossing up in the air. They all were wrong. Australia Day celebrates the anniversary of Captain Arthur Phillip unfurling the British flag at Sydney Cove and proclaiming British sovereignty over the eastern seaboard of Australia on 26 January 1788.