What was going on when I was born?

The Governor's Special Fire Safety Task Force will immediately seek legislation that would require operators of public facilities to read an announcement pointing out exits and emergency procedures at all public gatherings of more than 20 persons. Secretary of State Basil A. Paterson annnounced the proposed legislation today in response to growing public concern because of recent tragic fires. Spokesmen for Assembly Speaker Stanley Fink and Senate Majority Leader Warren M. Anderson, who are members of the task force, said it would be premature to predict the fate of such a bill in the Assembly.

The Exxon Corporation reported yesterday that its fourth-quarter earnings dropped 1.1 percent from the comparable period a year earlier, but said profits for all of last year surged 31.8 percent, to a record $5.66 billion. The world's largest oil company also said that revenues for all of 1980 soared to $110.47 billion, up 30 percent from $84.97 billion in 1979 and believed to be the highest sales figure ever reported by an industrial company. Exxon's quarterly decline surprised many analysts, who generally expected somewhat better results. ''I don't think we thought it was going to be as bad as what they're coming in with,'' said Merz K. Peters of Brown Brothers Harriman. ''It reflects some of the rough crosscurrents in the world today,'' added Joel Fischer of Drexell Burnham.

The sharp and largely unexpected rise in interest rates in last year's fourth quarter played havoc with bank earnings, causing a surge in profits at some institutions and dramatic declines at others. ''Those banks that depended on very short-term funds to finance longer-term loans and investments were penalized, and those that purchased money at considerably lower rates during the summer and early fall were handsomely rewarded,'' said Thomas H. Hanley, vice president and manager of bank research at Salomon Brothers. Primarily as a result of the higher interest rates, earnings of the Western Bancorporation soared, making it the most profitable by far of the nation's 15 largest bank holding companies. Western, with total assets of $32.1 billion at the end of last year, is the nation's ninth-largest bank holding company.

An Indonesian passenger ship caught fire in a storm and sank in the Java Sea yesterday, and Indonesian officials said early today that more than 500 people were missing. Officials reported that 620 others had been rescued and 20 bodies had been recovered. Describing the sinking as Indonesia's worst ship disaster, they said rescue efforts were being hampered by heavy seas and driving rain.

Paul A. Volcker, chairman of the Federal Reserve Board, and senior economic officials of the Reagan Administration disagreed today over whether tax cuts should come before or after reductions are made in Federal spending. In testimony before the Senate Appropriations Committee, Mr. Volcker called for ''concrete action on spending cuts before a final decision is made on tax cuts.'' Earlier, Treasury Secretary Donald T. Regan told the committee that the ''tax program cannot wait until budget outlays are reduced.'' Mr. Regan also maintained that ''we must not make the mistake of assigning a higher priority to balancing the budget than to revitalization of the economy.'' While the two sides disagreed over timing, they were in accord that tax reduction would best come as part of a package whose other central feature would be substantial reductions in projected Federal spending.

The professor enters Room 1512 where 20 seminar students enrolled in Public Affairs U9000y are seated. He goes to the head of the class, tidies his papers, takes a seat and says: ''I'm Javits, your Senator from New York for many years. Since I'm so contemporary, it's probably desirable to tap my experience.'' With these words, Jacob K. Javits embarks on a new career early on a Monday morning as adjunct professor of public affairs at Columbia University. For countless Monday mornings in the past, the former United States Senator could be found rushing for an Eastern Airlines shuttle en route to his Washington office and a long day of billdrafting, committee meetings, roll-calls and high-level conferences, sometimes with Presidents, all of it befitting a senior Senator and a power broker.

Officials of the Federal Bureau of Investigation told the Senate Labor and Human Resources Committee today that an ''exhaustive'' investigation had not corroborated allegations by underworld informers about purported illegal and improper activities by Raymond J. Donovan, President Reagan's nominee for Secretary of Labor. Mr. Donovan is the only Cabinet nominee who has not yet been confirmed. In addition, one Cabinet-level appointment remains to be approved. The Senate voted unanimously today in favor of William J. Casey as Director of Central Intelligence, and David A. Stockman, as director of the Office of Management and Budget, leaving only Jeane J. Kirkpatrick, as United States representative to the United Nations.

A pale and drawn Jean S. Harris took the stand today, describing to a jury in Westchester County Court the love she said she felt for Dr. Herman Tarnower, whom she is accused of murdering, and recounting how her personal life began to unravel in the year before the shooting. The 57-year-old defendant broke into tears twice during the day, but regained her composure quickly. She laced her testimony with deft phrases and wry humor, prompting laughter in a courtroom that is expected to remain at capacity for the several days she is likely to be on the stand. Mrs. Harris spoke of her early marriage and divorce, of working to raise two boys and of meeting the physician who was to be her companion for most of 14 years. She told of the cardiologist's relations with other women, and of their gifts to him, saying it was important for her ''not to be part of his gold cuff-link collection.''

International Indonesia's worst ship disaster was reported by officials who said that more than 500 people were missing after a passenger vessel caught fire in a storm and sank. The officials said that more than 500 people had been saved, but that rescue efforts were hampered by heavy seas and rain. (Page A1, Col. 1.) Strikes erupted throughout Poland amid signs that the leadership of the independent labor movement no longer controlled local union chapters. The most serious stoppage occurred at Bielsko-Biala, near the Czechoslovak border, where a general strike affecting 110 factories was called to force the ouster of local officials. (A1:2.)

CUSTOMERS invited into the kitchen after dinner at the Palace, Manhattan's most expensive luxury restaurant, are often astonished when they meet the chef. Instead of shaking hands with the sort of hulking fellow in his mid-40's that graces the jackets of popular cookbooks, they find a slender young man in a large toque blanche that perches just over his ears. In fact, Michel Fitoussi, at 28, is a senior member of a group of young chefs who are running some of the best restaurants in town. They include Pascal Dirringer of La Gauloise, Patrick Clark of Odeon, David Waltuck of Chanterelle, all 25, 24-year-old Thomas Ferlesch of Vienna '79, 28-year-old Mark David and Marjorie Thorpe, just turned 30, both of Woods. As a group, these cooks have a wide range, from classical French cooking to nouvelle cuisine, from baking to the creation of complicated food sculptures or the simplest of bistro food.

New orders for durable goods manufactured in the United States increased 1.9 percent last month, buoyed by an upswing in orders for military goods, the Commerce Department reported today. The total value of new orders for all of 1980 - about $916 billion - was down 1.1 percent from 1979's total, the Commerce Department said. But Robert Gough, a private economic forecaster, said apparent continued strength in consumer demand for durable goods meant a new recession was not inevitable.

In an emotion-charged ceremony on the South Lawn of the White House, President Reagan today welcomed home the 52 Americans formerly held hostage in Iran and promised ''swift and effective retribution'' for attacks on American Government employees in foreign lands. Earlier, thousands of citizens waving yellow ribbons and balloons cheered the former hostages through the streets of Washington as a motorcade led by Vice President Bush bore the freed Americans to a private reception by President and Mrs. Reagan in the Blue Room of the White House. Mr. and Mrs. Reagan watched from an upstairs window with tears in their eyes Remarks at White House, page A14. as the motorcade rolled slowly up a drive lined by a Marine honor guard. Moments later, as the couple shook hands with the former hostages in the Blue Room, Mrs. Reagan suddenly exclaimed ''Oh, I can't stand this!'' and began hugging and kissing the freed Americans.