What was going on when I was born?

''I feel like Nathan Hale - I regret that I have but one wife to give to my country's infrastructure.

The Administration calls its proposal for a three-year tax increase of some $135 billion a standby measure, an insurance policy to be used only if the nation's soaring budget deficits are not substantially reduced by mid-1985. President Reagan proposed the tax increase in his State of the Union address Tuesday night. Under the proposal, the Government would impose a surcharge on personal and corporate incomes and an excise tax of about $5 a barrel on oil. The taxes would not take effect unless a number of conditions were met, including a projected deficit for the fiscal year 1986 exceeding 2 1/2 percent of gross national product. The Administration's current projections, however, indicate that it considers it most unlikely that the standby taxes can be avoided. Even assuming a very strong recovery, one that would produce real economic growth substantially higher than the 3.5 percent average for the postwar years, the deficit would not be reduced enough to avoid the added taxes.

Married, the father of a 3-year-old girl and the president of the local bar association, Kenneth C. Gon,calves lived in a country so small and remote that he liked to say that although this was not the end of the world you could see it from here. Content in being isolated from the rest of the continent by its language, the jungle that covers 90 percent of its surface and a time clock setting that keeps it at a half-hour variance with its Latin neighbors, this former Dutch colony developed along peaceful lines. A major sports competition here centers on Sunday morning warbling contests on the town green between trained songbirds. And militants in a military coup here in 1980 directed their attacks at bureaucratic pocket-lining, untidy streets and dirt paths in need of raking. Then, with a fury, the violence of political life elsewhere in Central and South America caught up with tiny Suriname last month. Mr. Gon,calves and 14 other men, all of whom were reportedly unhappy with the growing ties the Government had with Cuba and other leftist regimes in the region, were taken from their beds and killed.

In an ever-changing city, one thing that New Yorkers hate to lose is their bus stop. Move it a block or simply switch it to another corner and people get disoriented. After all, bus riders don't pay much attention to street signs - they board in front of a familiar supermarket or get off across from the neighborhood library. And so, when a proposal was advanced three years ago to eliminate more than 100 of the 2,100 bus stops in the Bronx, it was met with a hearty Bronx cheer. The plan encountered so much opposition, in fact, that when a major portion of it goes into effect on Monday, only a dozen stops will be eliminated.

Once again, troubles are piling up for the trucking industry. Tonnage and revenues are down because of the recession. Scores of truckers, caught in rate wars following deregulation of the industry, have gone bankrupt. Washington has just imposed a new series of tax increases on truck fuel, truck parts, truck use and truck sales. And once again, as they did twice in the last decade, the nation's 100,000 independent truckers - who haul 90 percent of the nation's fresh food and half of its steel - are threatening to strike. This time their aim is to persuade Congress to provide some relief from the new taxes. The stoppage is scheduled next Monday. No one knows how many of the independents - drivers who own their own tractors but generally haul trailers provided by someone else - will heed the strike call or how many other drivers will honor the stoppage if it comes. But there appears to be wide support for some sort of action.

International Evidence linking the Pope's assailant and several Bulgarians who were in Rome before the assassination attempt in May of 1981, is convincing, according to American officials familiar with developments in the Italian investigation. But the officials said that it had not been proven that the relationship between Mehmet Ali Agca, the Turk convicted of shooting the Pope, and the Bulgarians had anything to do with the shooting. (Page A1, Column 3.) A massacre in Suriname has chilled the tiny South American nation. Last month 15 prominent citizens who were reported to be unhappy with the Government's growing ties with leftist regimes were taken from their beds and killed. The military ruler in Suriname said that the men were arrested for plotting to overthrow the Government on Chritmas Day and were shot while trying to escape. (A1:1-3.)

Yves Saint Laurent's coatdresses alone would make the season a success, but, of course, there was more, much more. There were tailored suits and slinky dresses and memories of Rita Hayworth in ''Gilda.'' Today was the day the perfectionists took over the spring and summer couture shows. After the Saint Laurent presentation, with just a two-hour break for lunch (not too leisurely by French standards), Hubert de Givenchy showed his equally elegant collection.

An article Jan. 9 about absenteeism in New York City high schools incorrectly identified Caesar Previdi. He is principal of Theodore Roosevelt High School in the Bronx.

New York officials said yesterday that they would seek a waiver exempting the city from a Federal law that requires it to permit double-trailer trucks on local roads. The officials said the trucks would be unsafe, but they stopped short of saying they would refuse to comply with the law, which takes effect in a year. They said they hoped the matter could be resolved through negotiations with the Federal Department of Transportation. And a trucking industry official said trucking groups might sue the Government if it granted a waiver to New York. City traffic regulations prohibit double-trailer trucks and all commercial vehicles longer than 55 feet. Most double-trailer trucks are 75 feet long.

Governor Cuomo will ask the State Legislature to provide $359 million in Medicaid costs now paid by local governments, including New York City, a key aide to the Governor said today. The state aid was approved by the Legislature last year, but no money was appropriated for it. Mr. Cuomo had supported the aid plan during his campaign, but until today had raised doubts as to whether the state could afford it. The aid is a key priority of Mayor Koch and would mean an additional $120 million for New York City in each of the next two years. It could help the city avoid some of the municipal cuts, including up to 4,600 layoffs, that he announced in a financial plan last week.

A bank earnings table in Business Day on Jan. 25 incorrectly stated the change in net operating earnings of the Security Pacific Corporation. For 1982, operating earnings increased 13 percent from 1981. For 1982's fourth quarter, the increase was 28 percent from the 1981 period.

A man has been charged with slaying a woman in the Bronx after he was freed on bail in a Manhattan robbery case, apparently over the objection of the Manhattan District Attorney's office. The man, Lawrence Fowler, was arraigned yesterday in the slaying case in Bronx Criminal Court and ordered held without bail by Judge Donald Moore. He was arrested Tuesday in State Supreme Court in Manhattan by Detective Gordon Krakower after he appeared in connection with the robbery case. Until then Mr. Fowler had been free since Oct. 26, when he posted $7,500 bail set eight days earlier by Judge Alan I. Friess in Criminal Court.