Appraisal time

Its that time of the year when the noisiest folk tend to lower their voices, the work-shy people start turning up at the office on time and the nerds begin to work on their communication skills - its appraisal time in short.
Since our firm became a part of this MNC, the yearly appraisals are done based on Jan - Dec performances and the bonuses are paid with your January salary. However, any salary raise will be effective only from April, the start of the Indian financial year.
Being the only person in my division to work away from Mumbai, I knew that my appraisal would be last and thankfully, just when I thought of ditching patience and calling my boss and demanding an appraisal immediately, he called me to check if I was available for a 30 minute discussion. Was I ever???
So the head of my sub-division (product development and implementation) and the director of my division logged into conference calls and after a long introduction to the appraisal system at the office, time that I used to jot down important points that I should remember to bring out during the call, we got down to business and all I can say is, it was beautiful!!!
My director called me a "role model" which was flattering, though they would not tell me what that meant in commercial terms (aka salary raise) which I tried to wriggle out of them.
They agreed with my points and I got a great appraisal, so April, come soon and shower me with some good news. Only thing is, you do not know the hike they are going to give you till March end, so thats something that I need to watch out for.
On the visa front, I finally got the call that my courier has reached Mumbai safe and sound, which means that my passport is safe now.