On the 26th of January each year the countries of Australia and India both celebrate their national days. I’m spending this particular 26th on the subcontinent, observing Republic Day activities which will this year allow Indians to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the creation of the independent Republic of India. I’ve spent enough Australia Days at home to know what’s going on there: everyone’s chilling out in their own way, enjoying the last real fling of the summer holidays before work starts back proper; and the media’s gone into super-patriot mode, re-hashing all of the usual tired cliches about how awesome Australia is and what it means to be Australian (hint: starts with “B” and ends with “BQ”), while a significant portion of the population cringe just a little bit. In recent years, especially around Australia Day itself, there seems to have been a growing gulf between those who love Australia to death and those who the former aggressively dare to leave if they don’t love it. The latter simply want to point out that it’s possible to love your country and acknowledge its faults at the same time. It’s curious that a day intended to unite Australia tends to somewhat divide it instead.

In the ex-Portuguese territory of Goa, an opinion writer by the name of Joe D’Souza, writing in the Herald, has written an honest report card on the country he loves, and I’m wondering what the reaction might be if a similar article appeared in an Australian paper.

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