There is one thing that hotelier Karambir Kang has been unable to do, one thing he has not wanted to do.

He would rather remember the family he lost, his wife, Niti, and their sons, Uday and Samar, as they were - happy and vibrant, full of life.

Remarkably, after their deaths, he discovered that, on the day the militants struck, his family had visited the hotel photographer and posed for happy, carefree pictures.

That is how he remembers them now. He has no desire, therefore, to enter the suite on the sixth floor where they perished.

"I have not entered that room - it's not something I have done. Even in the aftermath I did not go in. I did not see the bodies. I refused to do this," says Kang.

"To me, the last memories I want to remember are of them still alive."

Twelve months after 10 Islamist militants swept ashore and laid siege to the Indian city of Mumbai, leaving more than 165 people dead and a nation stunned, the historic Taj Mahal Palace Hotel - the hotel Kang remains general manager of - is buzzing with the sound of workmen.

Staff apologise to guests for the sound of drilling and the clatter of hammers as carpenters and plasterers hurry to rebuild damaged restaurants and interiors, but the truth is they rather like the noise.

They say it is the sound of recovery, of the hotel coming back to life - the sound of defiance.

In the lobby of the 107-year-old building where four of the gunmen ran in spraying automatic fire, a marble plinth lists the names of the 31 people who died here.

"For now and ever you will inspire us," it reads.

Hotel officials, Kang among them, seem genuine when they say the restoration of the hotel, opposite the Gateway to India memorial, marks the efforts of those caught up in the violence to rebuild and regroup.

But such upbeat talk of recovery goes only so far. The shock waves of those attacks, when for 60 hours a highly trained team of militants, apparently from Pakistan, terrorised the city, continue to resonate deeply.

Relations between India and Pakistan, which at the time had been definitely improving, have been set back by years. Pakistan insists it has done much to move against those responsible for planning the attacks.

In a move that may help improve the stand-off, Pakistan this week charged seven men, including the alleged mastermind Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi, said to be the operational commander of the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), or "Army of the Righteous", which is believed to be behind the attacks.

Others charged include Hamad Amin Sadiq, who worked on raising funds.

Yet India says the militant infrastructure remains in place and that key figures linked to the events of last November remain free to go about their business.