Kausikan was born to P.S. Raman, a British Raj-born Tamil Brahmin. Raman came from the British Raj to Singapore after the Partition of India and married Lim Eng Neo, a Peranakan, with whom he had a son, Bilahari, and two daughters, Kalyani and Kamala. Raman become a senior figure in Singapore broadcasting. He gained Lee Kuan Yew's attention after he advised against editing out the video of Lee tearing while announcing Singapore's expulsion from the Malaysian Federation in 1965. Thereafter, he was appointed to various diplomatic positions, including to Indonesia during "Konfrontasi", and subsequently to Australia and the Soviet Union. recovering from a heart attack during his tenure in Jakarta, he was reassigned to be Singapore's High Commissioner to Australia and served in that capacity for a year and a half.