Mumbai police increased the weapons and vehicles at local police stations and created specially trained early response units. Constable Dhananjay Srirang said he checks the identity cards of fisherman and boaters in the port, a new procedure, and B. Raman, director at Chenai's Institute for Topical Studies, said intelligence links with the U.S. have been strengthened. The changes, geared toward increasing the sense of safety, came in response to the terrorist attack in Mumbai one year ago Thursday that left 166 people dead and dozens injured in various locations, including a luxury hotel. But many observers say the changes fall short of providing protection from terrorists, militants or other dangers, some even insisting that new safety measures have done nothing to protect Mumbai, a global financial capital. 'The only reason we haven't been attacked is that the Taliban and al-Qaida are too busy looking at Pakistan to look here,' said Y.P. Singh, an analyst and former Indian Police Service member. 'Ultimately it's only because they have their hands full.' Indian Home Minister P. Chidambaram, who has made security a priority, said recently that India remains just as vulnerable. Anita Oriya Rajender, a 40-year-old garbage picker living near Macchimaar jetty, was perhaps the first person in Mumbai to come in contact with the attackers. She had headed down to the jetty that night to brush her teeth before heading for bed. As she neared the water's edge, with dirty plastic bags lapping gently in the surf, she noticed an inflatable boat with six men inside. The men swung duffel bags over their shoulder, hugged each other and flashed a thumbs-up sign before separating. 'Thirty minutes later I heard blasts and put two and two together,' Rajender said. 'Now a year later, I can't help but thinking if I'd said the wrong thing to them, I'd be dead.' The main targets of the 10 known attackers appeared to be the city's iconic Taj Palace and Tower Hotel and a Jewish travelers' center run by the conservative Lubovitch sect, where hostage dramas played out for days. Their use of advanced technology, allegedly linking them in real time with Pakistan-based handlers, increased their ability to spread terror. And the scope of the operation, including its targeting of foreigner and civilian targets, put terror group Lashkar-e-Taiba on the international map, ultimately strengthening U.S.-Indian intelligence sharing and turning Mumbai into a case study for the New York Police Department, FBI and other security agencies. 'The attack made Lashkar-e-Taiba a household name,' said Christine Fair, assistant professor at Georgetown University. 'It was Thanksgiving weekend, with many at home watching as it went on and on.' The attack also raised some embarrassing questions, including how 10 militants could hold a city hostage for nearly three days. In many other cities, their operation might have been shut down in a few hours. Bhisham Mansukhani, who was at a wedding at the Taj and who became a hostage, expressed little respect for how the police handled themselves. 'When the firing started, the cops just ran around panicked,' he said. 'Some fell out of their trucks. They were just horrible.' Security analysts said the government has not shown an ability to gather valuable intelligence that might thwart attacks. 'Ultimately you fight terrorism through intelligence, and ours isn't very good,' Singh said. Dr. Kuresh Zirabi, whose ophthalmology clinic is across from Chabad House, the Jewish center where six people were killed, said traveling to the U.S. or Australia underscores how lax India's security is in contrast. 'Our system needs repair -- the people, defense and especially the mindset,' Zirabi said. Zirabi hopes the center, whose yellow clinic wall has red painted circles highlighting several dozen bullet holes, is not rebuilt in the neighborhood because, he said, it could easily become a target again. Some residents, however, say the attack and its aftermath underscore the resiliency of Mumbai, a stew of humanity replete with slums, Bollywood studios, the super-rich and the deeply impoverished. 'People showed they were not ready to bow down,' said Remu Javeri, who owns two shops in the Taj Hotel and an apartment nearby. Bharat Gaikwad, a policeman at Mumbai's main CST railway station, where 52 people were killed, points out bullet holes on the wall and a golden statue of the god Ganesh with flashing lights, only its edge pierced. 'See, the idol braved the terrorists,' Gaikwad said. 'Its power deflected the bullets.' Early the day after the attack, Mumbai's trains were running and have ever since. 'Bombay can't come to a standstill,' said Ashok Mokashi, 50, an assistant railway sub inspector, near a commemoration to a slain railway policeman. 'It's like sunshine or rain; there's no stopping it.' Anshul Rana of the Times' New Delhi bureau contributed to this report. 