THE NECESSITY OF PRETREATMENT
Before the Action Begins
TEXTILE pretreatment is described as the series of cleaning operations performed on the yarn or the cloth. Impurities that cause adverse effects during dyeing and printing are removed through the process of pretreatment. A term associated with the textile industry, pretreatment describes the process to which cloth is subjected before it can take further processing.
Pretreatment processes include desizing, scouring, and bleaching of fabrics. In cotton, pretreatment is carried out in order to remove any inherent or added matter present in it, thereby improving its absorbency and whiteness. Mercerization is another such process that imparts properties of cotton, namely fibre strength and shrinkage resistance. It also enhances the accessibility and reactivity of cotton cellulose.
These pretreatments, therefore, play a major role in subsequent dyeing, printing and finishing. In fact, it has been reported that 70 percent of all the defects occurring in dyedfinished fabrics may be attributed to the imperfect preparation of the base fabric.
If we want our efforts to bear fruit, it is essential that we should take the correct preliminary steps before plunging headlong into difficult situations. Without the necessary moral preparation, all our steps will go awry, just like a cloth which is dyed without pretreatment.
This principle of pretreatment is as integral and necessary in human affairs as it is in clothes. If we want our efforts to bear fruit, it is essential that we should take the correct preliminary steps before plunging headlong into difficult situations. Without the necessary moral preparation, all our steps will go awry, just like a cloth which is dyed without pretreatment.
If journalism of decent standards is to thrive, it is essential that there should be industries to feed it. Independent journalism thrives and prospers when backed by industries. Thus, industrial backing is the pretreatment for the emergence of quality journalism. To concretize the power of votes in elections, unity is the first prerequisite. Without the pretreatment of electoral unity, voting power will be divided and it will fail to become a genuine political power capable of serving true social ends.
Similarly, before taking steps of any social consequence, it is necessary that there be a leader who is respected by the majority. Attempting to take initiatives without a central leadership is like leaping into an abyss. Central leadership is the prerequisite for the success of positive social movement.
The need for initial preparation is present in every walk of life, in private affairs as well as in public life. Those who seek to achieve high ideals, but do not wish to go through the tedium of doing extensive groundwork first, are building sandcastles which will not be able to stand the test of time. Their ambitions are no more than flights of fantasy which will never get off the ground in the world of hard realities.
The characteristics possessed by cotton and the cloth made from it have been directly invested in them by God. The physical rules governing them are, therefore, universal and invariable, and it is only by accepting them as such that man can take the right steps in order to make the clothes of his choice. In this, God gives us a clear sign as to how we should construct our lives. That is, we cannot jump to the later, more refined stages, without going through all the processes of pretreatment. It is only when the initial conditions have been fulfilled that we can proceed to the next stage to achieve the desired success.
One can never satisfactorily reach the destination without passing through and giving due attention to all of the preliminary stages.