The cream of Mumbai society took high tea amid unprecedented security at the Taj Mahal hotel yesterday, as the city landmark reopened for the first time since being stormed by terrorist gunmen last month.

More than 1,000 VIPs were invited to the Taj, where 52 people had been killed by Islamic militants just 25 days earlier.

The guests included business moguls, Bollywood impresarios and foreign diplomats – the type of elite Mumbai citizenry for whom the hotel has been place to socialise, celebrate family occasions and hammer out deals for more than a century.

It was, however, far from business as usual: ordinary members of the public looked on from behind a heavily guarded police cordon, set 100 metres away from the iconic building. Roads around the hotel, which was decorated with golden Christmas lights, were closed.

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"We've never been inside," said MK Chandresaker, 35, a carpenter who had made the two-hour journey from north Mumbai with his wife and son on his small 50cc motorcycle. "But we know it's an important place for our city. It was important for it to reopen quickly."

Ratan Tata, the head of Tata, the conglomerate that owns the Taj, echoed the sentiment.

Reopening the hotel within a month of the attacks had become a point of principle, he said. "We cannot be knocked down. This is a memorable day and a tribute to those who saved many lives," he added.

Those back at work included Karambir Kang, the general manager of the hotel, who lost his wife and two sons during the assaults.

Pictures of the Taj on fire, set ablaze by terrorist grenades, rank among the defining images of the attack on India's commercial capital, in which ten gunmen killed more than 160 people.

The building, which stands opposite the Gateway of India next to the Arabian Sea, still bears the scars of the 60-hour siege that ensued.

Yesterday only the modern Tower wing, which was constructed in the 1970s, was open. The 105-year-old Heritage wing, which the militants made their stronghold and where the heaviest fighting took place, will be closed for up to a year.

At the nearby Trident Oberoi hotel, where 32 people died and which also partially reopened yesterday, there were further signs that Mumbai's traditionally laissez faire attitude to security will no longer do.

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