What was going on when I was born?

Plans are under way for direct private bus service between lower Manhattan and the metropolitan area's three major airports. There is no direct airport bus service now to the busy financial and government center. Within three months, Carey Transportation plans to link downtown Manhattan with at least one of New York City's two airports, using vans or full- size buses. Carey had run an indirect downtown service for a short time, but it was stopped in 1982.

Ten years ago Lydia Bragger was the scourge of Madison Avenue. Whether she was speaking before the National Association of Broadcasters or the House Committee on Aging, she complained about ''ageism'' in advertising and ''the negative images and stereotypes that make old people look sick and bothersome and boring.'' Nowadays the 80-year-old head of the Gray Panthers Media Watch, an organization that fights discrimination against older people, is much in demand as a consultant to advertising agencies that are starting to tailor some ad campaigns to attract consumers over 55. More manufacturers are also adapting their products and marketing strategies to this age group. And with good reason.

The 17-year-old son of the Pelham Village Fire Chief was found hanged in his family's home Tuesday, the police said today. It was the fourth teen-age suicide in Westchester and Putnam Counties in the last two and a half weeks. Two of the other youths hanged themselves, and a third died from a gunshot wound. Word of the latest death brought reactions of shock from many parents and teen-agers in the suburbs. Westchester County officials said there were three teen-age suicides in the county in 1982 and two in 1983.

The Supreme Court, in a victory for the Internal Revenue Service, curbed a popular tax-avoidance device today by ruling that an interest-free loan from one family member to another is subject to the Federal gift tax. The Court said that the value of such a ''gift'' is the interest that has not been charged. The 7-to-2 ruling did not indicate how the interest should be calculated. But by any calculation, the forgone interest would have to be substantial before incurring the gift tax. Tax must be paid only on gifts to any individual in one year that exceed $10,000. For a married couple, the exclusion is $20,000 for each recipient.

THEY work in wood and metal, concrete and plastic laminate. They make tables and chairs and storage units. Their styles range from traditional to Art Deco-inspired to the more brash and colorful shapes influenced by the Milan- based Memphis group of designers. A new breed of modern furniture designer is emerging: young artists and craftsmen who often refer to their work as ''functional art'' and who offer a special kind of custom furniture. Although their work is not inexpensive, many of the pieces solve everyday furnishing needs while remaining true to the the esthetic ideals of their makers. Most of these designers, working in lofts and studios, are available only by telephone appointment.

Federal investigators said here today that American oil companies have overcharged their Canadian affiliates by billions of dollars since 1958 in a scheme to reduce their income taxes in the United States. The report, filed today by the staff of the Restrictive Trade Practices Commission, calculates that the companies overcharged their Canadian units by a total of $3.2 billion (Canadian) from 1958 to 1973, after adjustment for inflation. It asserts that the overcharges have continued since 1973, but largely because of a Government pricing regulation that encourages the overcharges. ''The evidence clearly shows that the Canadian subsidiaries of foreign multinationals were charged excessive prices for the foreign crude they purchased from their parents,'' the agency said in a 800-page report.

Two years ago, the newspaper publishing groups that own Reuters Ltd. began discussing the sale of shares in the 130-year- old international news agency to the public. Thanks to exploding earnings from its electronic financial information network, they found themselves sitting on a potential gold mine. Today, with analysts estimating that Reuters is worth $1.45 billion and critics charging the sellout of a public trust, the directors announced a restructuring of the company that could allow the sale to proceed as early as this spring. The number of shares to be sold will not be settled for some time, but the target date for flotation on the London Stock Exchange is mid-May and consideration is being given to a listing in the United States about the same time, said Glen Renfrew, the Reuters managing director. Morgan Stanley & Company and Merrill Lynch & Company would reportedly manage the United States offering.

An article in the Sports World Specials column on Monday about golf gambling incorrectly located Di-el Publishers. It is in Russellville, Ark.

Because of an editing error, an article in Metropolitan Report on Monday about Union Carbide's new headquarters in Danbury, Conn., misidentified the architect. It is Kevin Roche, John Dinkeloo & Associates.

The Congressional Budget Office, in its first analysis of President Reagan's budget for the fiscal year 1985, estimated today that his proposals would produce rising deficits for the next several years rather than the moderately declining trend the Administration projected. The new deficit estimates are sure to be a key issue in the bipartisan negotiations between Congress and the Administration. The talks resume Thursday with additional participants, including the chairmen of the budget, appropriation and tax-writing committees in the Senate. One of the negotiators' first tasks will be to decide whether to base their discussions on the estimates from the budget office or those of the Administration. In past negotiations and in the annual Congressional budget debate, the Congressional Budget Office's estimates have been adopted. The Congressional office's staff is trusted on Capitol Hill as expert and nonpartisan.

JUST as the family or rumpus room of the 1950's was the ''growth'' area of the house, the master bathroom - combined with the master bedroom - is now emerging as an important feature in new houses and apartments. In a state-of-the-art model home built north of Houston to accompany last month's National Association of Home Builders' annual convention, 25 percent of the entire two-story, 1,500- square-foot, 3-bedroom house was devoted to the combined master bedroom/bathroom suite. Together, they were almost a small apartment within a house that had otherwise grown smaller. At the convention itself, water-jet baths, spas, steam baths, saunas and tanning and fitness machines occupied what seemed to be a disproportionately large part of the 16-acre display areas in Houston's Astrodome and Astrohall. The designer of the house, Laurence Booth of Chicago's Booth/ Hansen & Associates Architects, says: ''The Calvinist bath down the hall is definitely not the trend. The emphasis has gone into a sensuous life style; the master suite and bathroom are more of a living area than a functional area.'' The two other rooms on the second floor of the house, presumably bedrooms for children, are barely 9 by 12 feet.

New York City's last remaining passenger ship terminal has been closed for the first time, awaiting the return of warmer weather and the cruise trade it was built to attract. From January, when the Queen Elizabeth 2 departed, until mid-April, when the liner is scheduled to return, no regularly scheduled cruise ships will call along the once-bustling Hudson River waterfront. The closing of the $40 million New York City Passenger Ship Terminal comes as cruise lines are seeking warmer, less expensive ports. ''From the glory days of trans-Atlantic traffic, New York has always been an all-year port,'' said Anthony J. Tozzoli, director of the Port Department of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.