What was going on when I was born?

Nicaragua at crossroads: U.S. is forcing a choice A2 Weinberger explains his view on ''countervailing'' strategy A3 Egypt ponders its role in Ameri- can strategy in Middle East A3 Food shortages in Rumania re- portedly lead to protests A4 Around the World A7 Iranian M.P. demands the dis- missal and trial of Bani-Sadr A8 Talk of Freetown: Tabloid yearns to speak for new generation A10 Peking to sell up to $3.3 billion in treasury bonds A14 Government/Politics New York City plans to press case against S.I. power plant B2 State courts seek to bar discrimi- natory jury selection B9 General Around the Nation A16 Connecticut cheered by Reagan budget plan for military B1 Crossword-puzzle devotees match wits in a war of words B1 Bomb threat closes Atlantic City casino for 2 1/2 hours B2 Suspect in murder of Met violinist to get hearing B2 Decision near on possible move of Amtrak office from city to L.I. B3 Features and Notes About Washington: Dancing in the halls of power A16 Going Out Guide C12 Notes on People C14 PARKING REGULATIONS Alternate-side parking regulations, suspended after Thursday's snowfall, have been reinstated effective this morning, the New York City Depart- ment of Transportation announced yes- terday. SportsMonday Baseball: Kingman, back with Mets, tries to erase the past C1 Lynn, Burleson and Hobson give Angels a Red Sox look C5 Michael surveys crowded Yan- kee field C5 Giles, Phillies' aide, seeking to buy club C4 Basketball: Syracuse snubbed in N.C.A.A. tourney selections C1 De Paul beats Notre Dame for 14th straight victory C1 L.I.U. coach surprised but happy with N.C.A.A. berth C6 Knicks are trounced by Celtics, 115-94 C7 Toney, a rookie, scores 28 as 76ers rout Bucks, 123-100 C7 15 teams, including Syracuse, accept N.I.T. bids C6 Boxing: Snipes outpoints Cum- mings in grueling 10-rounder C8 Column: Red Smith on the boys of spring C4 Features: Sports World Specials C2 Question Box C11 Figure Skating: Miss Zayak's acrobatics stir a controversy C8 Golf: Kite wins Inverrary Classic, with Nicklaus second C3 Hockey: Rangers and Red Wings tie, 4-4, at Garden C8 Outdoors: Getting ready for fish- ing season in Northeast C11 Statistics C10 Tennis: Tanner and McEnroe give U.S. 3-2 Davis Cup victory C3 Gene Mayer takes Denver final from Sadri, 6-4, 6-4 C3 Track: Maryland wins IC4A in- door title; Villanova third C10 Obituaries Daniel Schreiber, former admin- istrator in city schools B9 Kiril Kondrashin, foremost Soviet conductor B9 Hede Massing, ex-Soviet spy who testified against Hiss B9 Arts/Entertainment Greenhouse Dance Ensemble in works of 3 choreographers C11 June Anderson sings three roles in City Opera ''Hoffmann'' C11 Don Elliott, vibraphone, remem- bers E.Y. Harburg C11 Joseph Chaikin performs one-man Beckett show in ''Texts'' C12 Suzanne Somers's case, the di- lemma of high TV salaries C13 Pro Arte Chorale sings Handel's ''Israel in Egypt'' C15 Adam Smith and John Case books on economy reviewed C15 Bournonville's ''Sylphide'' is up staged at Toronto ballet gala C15 Nureyev and Joffrey Ballet pay TV tribute to Nijinsky C22 Style Relationships B7 Schools help latch-key children cope B7 Chronic procrastination: The roots of lateness B7 Achievers guide black students B7 News Analysis John Herbers on Census finding on rural growth B10 Editorials/Letters/Op-Ed Editorials A22 An alternative business tax plan For ratification of the sea treaty Advisable nuclear budget cuts Letters A22 Flora Lewis: a pervasive mean- spirited mood in the U.S. A23 William Safire: symbolism in the National Zoo A23 James M. Harkin: solving the problem of hunger in Africa A23 Francis Carling: deregulating the N.L.R.B. election process A23

They are each thought to be absolute wizards with words, and last year, as more than 100 of them gathered for the third annual American Crossword Puzzle Tournament at the Marriott Hotel here, one of the hotel managers got up to explain a few housekeeping rules. He made two of his four points and then came to the third. ''Next to lastly,'' he began, and then stopped. ''There must be a better way to say that,'' he said.

Saying that they had succeeded in highlighting problems of security and overcrowding, leaders of a five-week-old school boycott in Rosedale, Queens, yesterday called off the action at two of three schools. They also hinted that the boycott might end at the third school as well. Speaking in a hoarse voice above the din at a crowded meeting of 600 residents at the Rosedale Jewish Center, Linda Ovadias, a boycott leader, asked parents to send their children back to Public Schools 138 and 195 this morning.

In the dozen years since the nation's second-largest nuclear power station began moving in next door, Lower Alloways Creek Township and some of its Salem County neighbors have been showered with $45 million in tax revenues. But amid this largesse, which includes several thousand jobs, the 1,400 townspeople find something unwelcome emanating from the reactor - radioactive waste. The taxes have brought remarkable changes to the township, which now owns its own ski resort and has acquired a $20 million nest egg while putting in new brick sidewalks, mock Colonial street lamps, a cedar-shingled municipal building and matching firehouse, housing for the elderly and a swimming pool. But, at the power station, used nuclear fuel with a radioactive life of up to thousands of years is accumulating in 40 feet of water in a sealed-off storage pool. The waste has been building up in the four years since the startup of the first electric generating unit, Salem 1, at the four-reactor development on Artificial Island in the Delaware River, about 20 miles, by water, south of Wilmington. Access is by a causeway that leads to Hancocks Bridge, a community of a few hundred residents.

THE ECONOMY President Reagan plans sharp cuts in Federal loan guarantees, particularly for housing, in the fiscal year beginning Oct. 1. These reductions, part of a program to slash both borrowing and lending, will be in addition to cuts in direct Federal loan authority already announced. (Page A1.)

While President Reagan's plan to cut Federal spending has aroused much concern in the Northeast, there is one state that stands to gain: Connecticut, which will benefit from the President's proposal to increase defense expenditures. ''That's going to soften the blow of some of the cuts,'' said Representative Samuel Gejdenson, a Connecticut Democrat. ''That's probably the only good news from the President's message.'' More spending by the Pentagon usually means more contracts and more jobs for one of the mainstays of the state's economy - the military industry.

When Elmer B. Staats became Comptroller General of the United States on March 8, 1966, accountants made up 96 percent of his professional staff. When he retired last Friday, half of his staff consisted of lawyers, economists, engineers and computer specialists. That change symbolizes the way Mr. Staats has transformed the General Accounting Office, an investigative arm of Congress, in his 15-year tenure at the helm of one of the world's largest auditing agencies. He shifted its focus from examination of financial statements to comprehensive evaluation of large Government programs such as Social Security, military procurement and the ''war on cancer.''

Ten years ago they did not even exist. Today, money market funds have become a financial way of life for millions of Americans, many of whom had never before thought in terms of investment. This week, as their assets approach the $100 billion mark, money funds -which pool the money of many investors and place it in various liquid investments - are on their way to becoming a household word. In fact, the unprecedented rush of billions of dollars into these funds since the beginning of the year has so stunned bankers and some Government officials that threats to curtail the funds have gained momentum. Threat to Thrift Institutions Banking executives, banking regulators and legislators, in Washington and around the country, are trying to develop strategies to limit this flow, which they claim is sapping the strength of the nation's banking system. They contend that the funds are helping to topple savings banks and savings and loan associations by luring away deposits.

A three-year-old pilot system linking the nation's stock exchanges is being used increasingly to execute customer's buy and sell orders, according to a study by the Securities and Exchange Commission released today. But S.E.C. figures indicate that the network, called the Intermarket Trading System, still accounts for only a fraction of total stock-trading volume. The system, based on automated communications links among traders on the floors of the New York and American and five regional stock exchanges, permits participants to execute trades at the best price available on any of the participating markets.

De Paul, Louisiana State, Oregon State and Virginia were given the top-seeded berths yesterday in the National Collegiate Athletic Association basketball championship tournament, which opens Thursday, even though L.S.U., Oregon State and Virginia were beaten during the last week. Admitting that ''we don't have the best 48 teams in the country,'' the N.C.A.A. Basketball Committee pulled a surprise by not naming Syracuse as an at-large entry to the 43d annual tournament. The Orange, who won the Big East playoff on their home court in the Carrier Dome Saturday, were left out. Villanova, Georgetown and Boston College, three other Big East teams, received spots in the tourney.

Motor traffic on Lexington Avenue was banned between 67th and 68th Streets over the weekend to permit construction work on dual ''skywalks'' that, for the first time, break the avenue's long vista from Gramercy Park into Harlem. The curious stopping to watch yesterday included some residents who complained that the overpasses, suggesting snippets of the city's old elevated train tracks, would block sunlight as well as street views. The passageways, the first over a midtown avenue, will connect Hunter College's two new 17-story buildings at the third-story and eighth-story levels. A third walkway, across 68th Street west of Lexington, was completed on Thanksgiving weekend and will connect the new complex with Hunter's present building facing Park Avenue.

The Reagan Administration has limited proposed increases in Government spending for nuclear development to levels well below industry expectations, according to Congressional and industry sources that follow the budgetary process closely. They cite, for example, a decision expected to be announced Tuesday not to provide any money in fiscal 1982 for Government purchase of a nuclear-fuel reprocessing plant at Barnwell, S.C., from private interests. In addition, the sources said, the Administration has allocated no significant sums for storage of nuclear waste away from reactors until permanent disposal facilities become available.