Is there a buy-back scheme?

The Bard would have said it - Simplicity is thy name. He belongs to a house where poetry is a family business passed on from one generation to another - one of the most notable names from the family was his own father - Jannisar. But he had a fall-out with his father and so he didn't join the family business while his father was alive and earned his living writing scripts (though it got him fame and way too much money, as a fan of his poetry, I will downplay this part of his career). Then on one occasion, the famous director B R Chopra was making a film but his regular lyricist was not avaialable. Someone suggested that this script writer of yore writes poetry too. Chopra gave him the situation and the music. The song was the hit number "Dekha ek khwab to ye Silsilay hue". And rest, as they say, was poetry.
Ladies and Gentleman, I give you - Javed Akhtar.

This Ghazal kicks off with a revisit to the past - the haunted childhood and the struggling past. But while recounting those incidents, the poet realizes that he has lost something enroute to his success which he abhors more than the disappointments of his younger years. This idea is fairly recurring in Javed's Ghazals. Before I start on today's Ghazal, I have to mention one such sher that has been hauntingly favorite over the years.

It is an epitome of the simplicity of thought. This will hit you right there in the heart, i.e. if you have one.
आज फिर दिल ने एक तमन्ना की,
आज फिर दिलको हमने समजाया
Aaj phir dil ne ek tamanna ki,
aaj phir dil ko hamne samjaya

Heart yearned again today
Again I explained (the situation) to it.

Now let's start with the Ghazal of the post.

हम तो बचपन में भी अकेले थे
सिर्फ़ दिल की गली में खेले थे
Hum to bachpan me bhi akele the
sirf dil ki gali me khele the

I was alone even as a child
(hence I) only used to play in the bylanes of (my own) heart

एक तरफ़ मोर्चे थे पलकों के
एक तरफ़ आंसूओ के रेले थे
Ek taraf morche the palkon ke
ek tarag aansoo o ke rele the

(Guess what game was being played in the bylanes of heart! - It was a tug of war.) One side, was these forces of eyelashes, while on the other side it was a flood of tears.

थी सजी हसरतें दुकानों पर
जिंदगी के अजीब मेले थे
Thi sji hsrten dukano pr
Zindagi ke ajeeb mele the

(What was the reason for this deluge?) Wishes were decorated on shops and stores. Unfair were the fairs of life.

खुदकुशी क्या ग़मों का हल बनती
मौत के अपने सौ जमेले थे
Khudkushi kya ghamoN ka hal banti
maut ke apne sau zmele the

(Now switch to a more mature frustration. I said more mature frustration, not more mature response.) What problems would be solved by (committing) suicide? Death came with its own set of troubles.

ज़हन-ओ-दिल आज भूखे मरते है
उन दिनों हमने फाके झेले थे
zahn-o-dil aaj bhukhe mrte hai
un dino hmne faake zele the

(Now when I am man of means, I compare my past with my present and I realize) That my heart and brain are starving, Earlier only I had to go hungry.

The beauty of this pathos - when success is not worth the compromises made to achieve the success - is also captured wonderfully again by Javed Akhtar in this sher.
आज उनसे ख़ुद को में वापस खरीदु
लोग जो मांगे वो अपने दाम दू में
Aaj unse khud ko me vaapas kharidu
Log jo maange vo apne daam du me

I am ready to pay whatever price, if only... if only I could buy myself back.

Alas, there ain't no buy-back scheme in the store of life Mr. Akhtar.