Originally Posted by MoneyJohn
Depending on your attitude, you will either enjoy or hate it. I know many who were obsessed with poverty whereas many were obsessed about enjoying the travel.
This is a great point. Keeping an open mind is key. Traveling through India, unless you have blinders on, you will inevitably see a lot of poverty, pollution, mountains of dirt, trash, horrifying living conditions. While this is part of India, if you let it get to you, it will spoil your overall trip and prevent you from enjoying the nice parts and aspects of India, and there are many. Alas, it sounds like OP has traveled to other less developed parts of the world, so it may not be that much of a shock to him.
Seeing the poverty has its benefits, too. It always helps me put things in perspective, realize how little people in some parts of the world need to make it work, and appreciate all the basic things I have that I often take for granted such as running water or electricity, or even toilet paper.
I was lucky enough to travel through parts of India (mostly northern) accompanied by someone who's lived there for quite some time, and that was invaluable. I don't know if I'd be willing to do it on my own.