Driver ah go take it here, driver gimme over there... now that is a calypso for all seasons and one that brings me to the topic of discussion today the means, the art, the knowledge of what "to pull bull" really means to a Trini. Indeed when Merchant sang "Taxi Talk" he was probably traveling in a car whose driver was "Pulling Bull"... well maybe, who knows?
Do you know what the term, "to pull bull" means? Of course, you do, just as you know what a short drop is; no we are not talking about 'coconut drops! Dame a few coconut drops will surely hit the spot now but then again I could dream of it or head to Brooklyn to get some authentic Trini coconut drops. Ah, the Trini dreamer will thirst for the delights of the nation.
Stop, well since I said stop then it has to be, "driver ah go take it here"! By now you should have realized that the topic of discussion has to do with a taxi or some form of taxi service. If you did then congratulations are in order and it means that you have some Trini genes imbedded in your DNA or simply put you lived in Trinidad and Tobago and experienced "pulling bull".
No sir, sorry going to Caroni and looking for someone pulling bull just won't do because first of all, you must own a car - a licensed private car not a legitimate taxi. Now that we got past stage one of this discourse comes part two. You need some extra income and decided to use your privately owned car to earn some extra cash by 'picking up passengers" and charging a reduced fee or in some cases where the legitimate taxis don't work regularly the same legal fee to get from point A to point B.
In a nutshell, my friend a private vehicle put in service as a taxi constitutes the basis for pulling bull. To use a privately owned car to charge a fee to get from one place to another that is not publicly serviced by the regular legitimate taxi service. Yes, we are talking about PH drivers. Having said that it should be noted that those drivers "pulling bull" are the lifeblood of nighttime transportation in Trinidad and Tobago because the legal taxi drivers fear being held up and robbed. Indeed the private drivers "pulling bull" risk their lives plying this trade especially at nights - they do what they have to do to earn the extra income.
Well maybe you have pulled bull or you may have been a passenger in a car whose owner was conducting the service known as "pulling bull". Whatever thoughts you may have about the service, good, bad, or indifferent will not change the fact that this service is needed and is part of the cultural landscape of Trinidad and Tobago. At least now you know what is and how to "Pull Bull".
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