What was going on when I was born?

The Oakland Raiders, a team that was considered by some the weakest in its division even before the starting quarterback broke a leg, won the American Conference championship game today, defeating the San Diego Chargers, 34-27. They shocked the Chargers by building a three-touchdown lead in the first half, and refused to allow the Chargers a chance to come back by holding the ball for the last 6 minutes 43 seconds. The Raiders were led by Jim Plunkett, the quarterback who was out of work before he joined the team as a free agent in 1978, and who asked to be traded earlier this year when he expected to have virtually no playing time for the third straight season. He completed 14 of 18 passes for 261 yards and two touchdowns, and ran for a score. Just as significantly, he was not intercepted.

It is third period in Mr. Chase's classroom, and Rocky has just inhaled the Blob. The students are having a good time in the film-animation class at Columbia High School here. One is working the motion-picture camera while his co-producer engineers supervise the inhalation of one clay figure by another between bright lights and a painted backdrop. Others interrupt their own projects to voice approval and offer suggestions. Some parents' and taxpayers' groups suggest that in the face of rising inflation and decreasing enrollments - and at a time when many students have difficulty even learning to read - courses in film making should be the first of many ''nonessentials'' to be cut from the curriculum. Across the country, school boards have eliminated courses that taxpayers have deemed frills. A spokesman for the United States Office of Education said it was generally a difficult time for arts education throughout the country. In New York City's public schools, for example, a school board spokesman said that two-thirds of the high school art and music teaching positions had been eliminated since 1975.

Saudi Arabia, which had been supplying at least 12 countries with extra crude oil to offset shortages caused by the Iraq-Iran conflict, has not yet renewed its ''war relief'' contracts for 1981, Petroleum Intelligence Weekly reports in today's edition. Nervous consuming nations are trying to convert the temporary arrangements into more secure long-term contracts with the Saudi Government, the weekly newsletter said. ''It is uncertain whether any realignment of volumes or clients is planned among the 12 to 15 countries receiving 500,000 to 600,000 barrels daily of make-up oil, or whether the lag is due to normal administrative delay,'' P.I.W. said.

TWO hungry young animals with Phi Beta Kappa feet rushed into this town's growing company of demigods, adding another chapter to the Philadelphia Story in the game for the championsip of the National Conference of the National Football League. Wilbert Montgomery, a greyhound with muscles, and Leroy Harris, who runs like an infuriated beer truck, ripped through and around the Dallas defenses for the points that qualified the Eagles for Super Bowl XV two weeks hence. On the first time Philadelphia had the ball, Montgomery caught the Cowboys by surprise and raced 42 yards all by himself for a touchdown. Late in the third quarter, Harris cut back through the middle and went 9 yards to the end zone, and barefooted Tony Franklin added the other points in a 20-7 victory.

Ronald Reagan's economic advisers say they are timing their preparation of his economic package to set the stage for a dramatic 100 days of Congressional action on the Federal budget, aimed at avoiding a legislative stalemate. To heighten the drama further, the Reagan advisers said in interviews, they are considering new ways of applying pressure, principally the idea of threatening to veto further increases in the limit on the Federal debt, if the package is not approved. Such vetoes would severely hamper -even halt - the Federal Government. Affected would be such popular activities as the payment of Social Security benefits. May 15 Deadline Seen as Key Recognizing that the budget cuts they will eventually recommend are likely to be highly controversial, the advisers say they want to improve their chances in Congress by having them voted on as a package by the May 15 deadline for initial action on the budget for fiscal 1982.

Motorists on Manhattan's West Side, who for years have had to yield, merge, detour, bump or simply grind to a halt, can expect matters to get worse before they get better. It may be another decade, traffic engineers say, before an automobile can go nonstop from the George Washington Bridge to the Wall Street area. Complicating the traffic situation is a record number of automobiles entering the city each day, in part a result of public dissatisfaction with the city's mass transit system. To deal with the crumbling roadways and growing number of cars, two major road improvement projects costing more than $100 million are under way on the West Side. One, on the Henry Hudson Parkway, is intended to be permanent, but the other, on what remains of the West Side Highway, is only a temporary measure to provide relief until the Westway highway project or an alternative is built. In the short term, however, the construction projects are expected to cause further problems for motorists.

This sprawling East Kalimantan town of 200,000 on the edge of the jungle owes its start to the timber industry and its present boom to oil. For 175 miles, the coastal area from just south of Balikpapan and north to the equator is known as ''Indonesia's hot spot,'' said a spokesman for Pertamina, Indonesia's national company. ''This is our Prudhoe Bay.'' From this coastal belt, Indonesia will produce the bulk of the revenues to support its $22 billion budget for 1981. Without oil, gas and timber from Kalimantan, Indonesia, the only Asian member of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, would be short of foreign exchange. And Pertamina, which nearly went bankrupt in 1975, would have no economic muscle.

An article by The Associated Press in The Times yesterday stated incorrectly that Ellis Judd Staley Jr., a former associate justice in the Appellate Division of New York State State Supreme Court, was dead.

Poland's Communist Party leader, Stanislaw Kania, publicly warned the country's private farmers tonight against trying to organize an independent labor union modeled after Solidarity, a largely urban industrial organization. ''We register our categorical opposition to all attempts at inciting the countryside, at sowing anarchy or creating a political opposition,'' Mr. Kania told a joint gathering of the Communist Party and the United Peasants' Party, a front organization. ''There is no room in the Polish countryside for a political opposition of an @antisocialist character,'' he said, ''because there is no room for a struggle that is not in the interests of agriculture or farmers and workers.'' The speech, which appeared to signal a hardening line against proliferating challenges to the party's authority, was delivered yesterday and distributed late last night by the official press agency. But it was only disclosed to the Polish people tonight on national television.

Reagan economic advisers plan a dramatic 100 days of legislative action on the Federal budget. The advisers said they were also considering ways to ram the program through Congress unhindered. One method would be to promise to veto any rise in the Federal debt ceiling. (Page A1.)

Father of Costa Rican democracy calls for ''emergency'' regime A2 Mrs. Kirkpatrick, Reagan's U.N. choice, hopes for ''input'' A3 Americans more optimistic about 1981 than West Europeans are A4 Around the World A5 Brzezinski proposes expansion of allied economic meetings A7 Italian papers reject demands to print terrorists' statement A7 Iran seems to step aside from $24 billion demand on hostages A10 Reagan tells Africa conference he'll emphasize economic ties A12 General Around the Nation A14 At the Bohemian Club, men join and women serve A16 Defense lawyer in Tarnower murder trial adept with juries B2 Pluses and minuses found in police use of civilian manpower B3 Arts/Entertainment Two separate casts dance Balan- chine's ''Scotch Symphony'' C14 BAM Theater opens season with ''Midsummer Night's Dream'' C15 Emlyn Williams, the actor, a first novelist at 75 C15 John Dizikes's ''Sportsmen and Gamesmen'' is reviewed C17 New book on John Kennedy's assassination reaches stores C17 Dance Theater of Harlem gives program at City Center C17 Equity Library Theater revives the musical ''Godspell'' C20 F.C.C. planning to vote on radio deregulation C20 PARKING REGULATIONS Alternate-side-of-the-street parking regulations are suspended in New York City today because of expected bad weather. SportsMonday Basketball:De Paul takes its first loss of season in stride C7 UConn, led by Corny Thompson, off to a 10-0 start C8 With Earvin Johnson out, Lakers are struggling C8 Cartwright excels in Knick victory over Cavaliers C9 Colleges: N.C.A.A. may seek one- network television deal C3 Columns: Anderson on a Charger minority owner-restaurateur C1 Red Smith on the Philadlephia story C1 Features: Sports World Specials C2 Question Box C12 Football: Eagles defeat Cowboys for N.F.C. title, 20-7 C1 Raiders beat Chargers for A.F.C. title, 34-27 C1 Dorsett takes blame for key miscues C5 Golf: Miller cards 65-265 to win Tucson open by 2 shots C12 Hockey: Rangers are defeated by Maple Leafs, 5-3 C3 Brooks, not coaching, faces a period of adjustment C3 Kallur of Islanders is achieving his N.H.L. goals C4 Islanders set back Flyers by 4-2 C4 Sports News Briefs C9 Tennis: Austin and Jaeger will battle in final tonight C12 Scanlon defeats Wilkison in New Zealand final C12 Style Relationships B4 Standing up to the hairdresser can take a kind of courage B4 Tribute to a trade unionist draws the city's leaders B4 Obituaries Richard Boone, actor D11 Malcolm MacDonald, British dip- lomat D11 Harry Levy, visiting professor at Duke who held City U. post D11 Features/Notes Man in the News: Yigael Hurwitz, Outgoing Israeli Official A8 B2 Government/Politics Legislation on water meters introduced by Councilman Stern B5 Carey to call for tax cuts to encourage business in state D11 News Analysis Joseph Lelyveld assesses the conference on Namibia A12 John Herbers on furor created by U.S. urban report A17 Editorials/Letters/Op-Ed Editorials A18 Advice for attorneys general Limiting size of new buildings A utility's energy-use reminder Philip M. Boffey: influenza Letters A18 Flora Lewis: French choices in Africa after new Qaddafi move A19 William Safire: Senator Percy's role in foreign-policy-making A19 Stephen Budiansky: the new, guilt-free ''realism'' A19 Dankwart A. Rustow: recommendations on U.S. Mideast policy A19

The Chrysler Corporation's suppliers, who have been characterized by the auto maker's executives as the unsung heroes during Chrysler's continuing crises, are now carrying about $200 million in deferred payments, up from $140 million last last month, a Chrysler official confirmed today . The official also said that most of the major suppliers had agreed to freeze prices during the coming year and cut prices 5 percent from that level for the first quarter. The freeze and price cuts are a key part of the survival plan that the company has submitted to the Chrysler Loan Guarantee Board in its petition for an additional $400 million in loan guarantees. It has already been granted $800 million of the $1.5 billion that the Government authorized.