What was going on when I was born?

''The events in Lebanon and Grenada, though oceans apart, are closely related.

With tears and expressions of relief, scores of American students evacuated from Grenada told yesterday of days and nights of terror on the strife-torn island and praised the Reagan Administration and United States invasion forces for bringing them safely away. Many of the students from St. George's University School of Medicine said they had not been directly threatened or endangered by the turmoil and fighting, and some said they believed their safety had been used as an excuse by the United States to invade Grenada. But others told of bullets crashing through their dormitory rooms, of fears of being taken hostage, of a week of campus confinement under the Government's ''shoot to kill'' curfew, of soldiers pointing guns at them and of wading through surf to board rescue helicopters amid raging gunfire and booming explosions. 24 Hours of Terror Recalled ''I don't think I can ever go back to Grenada,'' said Elizabeth Nelson of Woodmere, L.I. ''I could never concentrate on my studies. I'm sure that if I were back in class in the lecture hall, I would recall the 24 hours I spent there in terror, with the sound of gunfire and not knowing whether we would get out of there alive.''

The House, in another Administration setback, approved legislation barring new Government investment in South Africa. Page D2. WASHINGTON, Oct. 27 - The Senate voted today to raise the ceiling on the national debt but by considerably less than the increase the Reagan Administration had asked Congress to enact by Nov. 1. If the Senate stands by the amendment it approved today in its final action on the debt ceiling bill, then a conference with the House would be necessary and the Treasury might have to delay the sale of $16 billion of securities scheduled for next week.

A picture caption in The Home Section yesterday misidentified an item of antique furniture purchased at auction by Harold Sack. It was an 18th- century Newport Chippendale desk, for which he paid $687,500 last January.

Mayor Koch warned yesterday that he would be forced to release prisoners from city jails ''imminently'' unless judges took action. In a letter to state judges, the Mayor said the city's jail population was near its court- ordered maximum. Prisoners would have to be freed, he said, if the judges did not speed up sentencing of inmates convicted of felonies. Most of those prisoners would be sent to state prisons, freeing up jail space in the city.

After years of soaring and even overheated expansion, Texas's major banks are reeling from the first serious strains on their growth and profitability in more than a decade. Since the early 1970's, Texas bankers had been blessed by an unusually robust economy. The surge in oil and gas drilling, followed by a boom in real estate development, produced steadily higher profits for banks. Especially in the state's two money centers, Houston and Dallas, banks were benefiting from their high-yielding energy loans. And in an unprecedented wave of acquisitions, several of the state's bank holding companies grew geometrically by buying out smaller rivals.

The House Energy and Commerce Committee today approved a bill that would exempt residential and small business telephone users from a new monthly ''access fee'' that has been mandated by the Federal Communications Commission. In a filing that came after the panel's vote, the American Telephone and Telegraph Company urged the F.C.C. to put the access fee into effect on Jan. 1, as originally scheduled, and cancel a 90-day postponement announced last week. In a gesture of compromise, A.T.& T. proposed a new proviso for a future refund to customers, if necessary, once the debate over rates is resolved. A.T.& T. also outlined compromises on other rate changes. Seen as Defeat for A.T.& T. The committee's approval of the complex legislation, by a vote of 27- 15, represented a major defeat for A.T.& T., which had mounted an intense lobbying effort to defeat it.

President Reagan said tonight that American invasion forces had found Grenada to be ''a Soviet-Cuban colony being readied'' to export terrorism. He said the American invasion had prevented a planned ''Cuban occupation of the island.'' ''We got there just in time,'' the President said in a half-hour televised speech on the battle for control of Grenada and on American policy in Lebanon. With American troops reportedly engaged in fierce fighting with an entrenched Cuban force in Grenada, Mr. Reagan adopted a subdued and restrained tone. He said an unexpectedly large Cuban military presence had shown the island was a more menacing center for pro-Soviet forces than his Administration had anticipated.

The Securities and Exchange Commission proposed today to require banks engaging in the stock brokerage business to register with the agency and adhere to its rules for brokers and investment advisers. A spokesman for the banking industry immediately questioned whether the S.E.C. had the authority to impose such a requirement on banks. In addition, the Comptroller of the Currency, in a possible indication of an interagency struggle, has announced that he is reviewing how his office will regulate banks with brokerage activities to determine ''whether all banks should conduct these activities in operating subsidiaries.'' The Comptroller, C. Todd Conover, charters and regulates national banks and has authorized several to enter the brokerage business.

Congressional criticism of the Grenada invasion mounted today as the House Foreign Affairs Committee, in a vote of 32 to 2, adopted legislation declaring that the War Powers Resolution pertained to events on the Caribbean island. Senate Democrats want to attach similar legislation to a bill pending on the Senate floor that would raise the national debt limit. If adopted by Congress, the War Powers measure would require President Reagan to withdraw troops within 60 days unless Congress authorizes their continued presence. Early in the day, the Senate approved an amendment to a supplementary spending bill commending the troops who had fought in Grenada.

President Reagan termed Grenada ''a Soviet-Cuban colony being readied'' to export terrorism. In a televised speech, Mr. Reagan declared that the American invasion had prevented a planned ''Cuban occupation of the island.'' ''We got there just in time,'' he said. (Page A1, Column 6.) American forces captured the final major stronghold of Grenada's defenders at the edge of the capital, but the country's Marxist leader was reportedly holding out with hostages in the southern part of the island. Barbadians and the Pentagon said the attacking troops overran a prison, where Cubans and Grenadians had repulsed earlier assaults. (A1:5.)

Friday SPANISH 'EMILY' AT HUNTER The South American actress China Zorrilla is in town with a one-woman show that has been her biggest success. It is ''Emily'' - a Spanish translation of ''The Belle of Amherst,'' William Luce's drama about Emily Dickinson, which starred Julie Harris on Broadway in 1976. Miss Zorrilla, who was born in Uruguay and is now based in Buenos Aires, performed it for two years in Argentina and toured with it elsewhere in Latin America. She will appear at the Hunter College Playhouse, Park Avenue at 68th Street, tonight at 8, tomorrow night at 5 and 8, and Sunday at 3 and 6 P.M. Tickets: $15 ($7 for students). Reservations: 268-1320. BIG BRITISH ART SHOW In what is billed as the largest presentation of current British art to be shown in New York, the work of more than 50 artists will be on view in the Puck Building, 295 Lafayette Street in SoHo, through Nov. 17. The exhibition, ''British Art: New Directions,'' includes painting, sculpture, graphics, fiber art and jewelry, as well as works in process by eight sculptors using such materials as metal, bricks, cardboard and neon. Admission is free. Information: 226-0608. MELODRAMA IN SOHO