Who's the best?

Comparison is inevitable in this world. Whatever people do, accomplish, fail to do, etc, it is always compared to things of the past, or similar things that others have done.
Comparisons are done, ratings are given and finally everybody wants an answer to the question "Who's the best". And the things that are compared range from infinity to infinity. Anything can be compared. Starting from which kid in the school has more toffees to who makes the fastest century in a 20-20 match, comparisons are a never ending phenomenon.

What do these comparisons serve? Probably, it is because of comparing and contrasting that we are able to improve our capabilities. So it might not be that bad either.

Again, within these comparisons, there seems to be an inherent trend, at least one that I feel, to put people earlier in time in a more positive light than they would deserve otherwise. And this is in every field.. Sports, music, arts take anything.. The earlier guy is always better/greater than the contemporary. Shakespeare, Picasso, Newton, Bradman, they are all great people and considered better than their current counterparts and probably anybody in the future too. As if great people are born only once and that too in the past!  Ghantasala is a better singer than SP Balu, Ilayaraja is better than A R Rahman, Nobody can think of a better actor than NTR in Telugu.. the list goes on.

Why so? One reason I can think of is that resources were limited in the past and anybody who achieved so much back then would have done even more now. True, but not always. Another reason then, probably, is that it is the modesty of the younger generations to revere and respect elders in their field and to attribute greater skill to their predecessors. Besides that, in most cases, the predecessors would have been their gurus or idols in the field, so they can't dream about surpassing the idols or at least openly accept it.

There might be other reasons, and I might be only seeing one side of it all (think about scientists before Newton and poets before Shakespeare, they existed too, but still the later ones are considered the best, right?) but it is mostly the case that in a list of successful people in a field, the earliest is always considered best. And, these comparisons never end.

So, which was the best movie of the decade, who was the best sportsman, which year was the best, etc etc.. and the comparisons go on and on... and while you are on it, you could also try and tell which of my posts is the best :) Yes, I am no different.