A mother-daughter duo is spearheading a matrimony movement for the defence community. With their first success story coming from Mumbai over a decade ago, they are now ready to take fauji matchmaking global
Nikhil and Sargam (in blue and pink) and Rahul and Sunita are just a few success stories of couples who found love
Raveena (name changed), an NRI raised in a fauji household, had to go through a divorce shortly after marriage. Her mother wanted her to remarry—but to someone who was marrying for the first time. Even today, many deem this as a challenging goal, because of the stigma associated with broken relationships in India.
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But Raveena found companionship, which soon turned into a successful marriage. In an era of dating apps and plenty of matrimonial sites, this connection happened on a one-of-a-kind platform designed specifically for defence wards, called Defence Wards Matrimony.
The website’s first success story came from Mumbai, despite the fact that they are located over 1,600 kilometres away in Panchkula. The women who spearheaded this effort, Parveen Brar and her daughter Keerat Brar Jawandha, haven’t looked back since its inception in 2014.
(From left) Keerat Brar Jawandha and her mother Parveen Brar
Call it passion, fascination, or a way of life less ordinary—the obsession with the military lifestyle is real. And it’s not just the men and women in uniform who work hard to lead a life that demands sacrifice and is full of adventure, even civilians want to experience it. And for those who have seen their loved ones serving and have travelled with them across the country, it’s also the nostalgia of services life that binds them together.
The venture began on a personal level, when Parveen began seeking matches for her three daughters within the armed forces community (where all three are now married). According to Keerat, whose father is a retired Brigadier, “The initiative has grown from a personal need to a pan-India platform, and now we are planning to take it international, connecting thousands of defence personnel and their families around the world. In fact, we already have many people from Australia and Canada using the platform.”
As an army family, the Brars had experienced the unique lifestyle that comes with being part of the armed forces. “We always travelled a lot across the country. As a fauji wife, my mother had seen a certain lifestyle that she liked. And those brought up in this lifestyle tend to relate well to others with similar backgrounds,” explains Keerat.
While looking for potential matches, like many military families, the Brars also faced challenges such as being distant from their native place. Driven by this, Parveen conceived the idea of creating a website to assist military parents, which led to the establishment of defencewardsmatrimony.com.
Soon after the platform gained momentum, users from across the country sought a major change. “People wanted us to open the platform to people currently serving in the military, too,” says Keerat, “and so, we expanded our scope.” Currently, the website boasts over 10,000 registered profiles of officers and their wards, and they recently launched an application, too, which is available on both iOS and Android stores.
When asked how their website is different from a regular matrimony website, Keerat explains, “We put a lot of emphasis on the quality of profiles. They are well-curated, and we do not entertain fakes. This check is done by our team and is overseen by my mother and me. If there is a red flag, we take it up ourselves.”
The platform ensures that users find matches that align with their expectations. “Good family backgrounds are what we look for,” Keerat says. The website features separate categories for officers and other ranks, recognising that their backgrounds may differ socially and economically. This categorisation helps avoid confusion about what users are seeking, she explains.
The primary target group for Defence Wards Matrimony is individuals aged between 25 and 35.
Reflecting on the need for such a platform, Keerat highlights factors that set military families apart. “Army culture is more open-minded. Caste and creed are not given importance in the military as they are in civilian life. Hence, inter-caste marriages are common here, as these distinctions tend to be overlooked within the military ethos,” she says.
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