There's even the odd scurrilous rumour thrown in. Sudu Purak (Justician betonica) notes Arittha, is used in Sri Lanka as a poultice for boils and as a cure for snakebites in Kenya. Daluk (Euphorbia antiquorum) is sacred to Mansa, the goddess of serpents. Hindus in parts of India worship it on Tuesdays and Thursdays, praying for protection from her reptilian subjects.

I take a long time to write, says Ramya Chamalie Jirasinghe somewhat diffidently. Her last book, if anything, slipped almost unnoticed into the market, yet, the response has been not slow in coming. Released exactly a year ago, "There's an Island in the Bone' won the 2011 State Literary Award for Poetry, the award shared with another poet Vivimarie van der Poorten - and she is finally ready to talk ...