Text: Remedy for a cold or tickle in the throat. They say, you mix really boiling water with whiskey and you’ll get cleared out in a day or two. 

Context: Informant is from a part of South India. Where she says they are well known for drinking whiskey. She says there isn’t really an age range, and was served alcohol at a bit of a young age, though with kids there is definitely more water than whiskey. 

Analysis: This is an example of folk medicine. Where they use a substance that is known to be an assault on the senses to clear those senses. K said the whiskey is usually strong, which makes me think that the burn of the alcohol is important and quite likely part of the point since this remedy seems to be for sicknesses relating to the throat, almost like how rubbing alcohol is used for wounds. By adding the hot water it connects to other forms of folk medicine like tea or inhaling steam. Temperature is usually important when caring for the sick, a cold is quite literally called a cold, thus hot water is the opposite.