What was going on when I was born?

Two New York City school employees who lent money to Chancellor Anthony J. Alvarado received extra compensation while working for Mr. Alvarado when he was superintendent in East Harlem, according to Board of Education records. The amount of money paid to one of the employees was $12,847 - slightly more than the $12,000 Mr. Alvarado said he had borrowed from the person. The Chancellor denied any impropriety and said there was no relationship between the payments and the loans. Another loan, to a top assistant on Mr. Alvarado's staff, was repaid yesterday. Investigation Continues These developments emerged as an investigation by the city and the Inspector General of the board continued into disclosures by the Chancellor that he had accepted thousands of dollars in loans in the last few years, many of them from school colleagues.

The season of Lent, which began yesterday with the observance of Ash Wednesday, is for some Christians no longer associated with giving up such pleasures as cigarettes or candy. Increasingly, churches in the metropolitan area are planning programs of religious and social enrichment for Lent, the six-week period of repentence before Easter. These are some examples: - The Archdiocese of New York is urging parishes to use this period to study the pastoral letter on peace by the National Conference of Catholic Bishops. Last week, the archdiocese held a special training session for church leaders on explaining the letter to parish groups.

A new Middle East strategy is being shaped by the Reagan Administration to build closer ties with Israel and Jordan as well as between those two countries. (Page A1, Column 1.) Three Israelis were killed and nine were wounded when a bomb exploded on a bus in the port city of Ashdod, south of Tel Aviv. (A3:3-6.)

Under this heading, The Times amplifies articles or rectifies what the editors consider significant lapses of fairness, balance or perspective. An article in Science Times on Tuesday reported that at least part of Sigmund Freud's London house is to become a museum.

A table in Business Day on Wednesday listing the United States' largest oil companies omitted one major corporation. It was the Standard Oil Company (Indiana), which had 1983 revenues of $29.5 billion.

The Reagan Administration is fashioning a new Middle East strategy to build closer ties with Israel and Jordan as well as between those two neighboring countries. The intent is to try to capitalize on what officials see as increased Jordanian fears of a stronger Syria and in klings of growing sentiment for compromise in Israel. ''We have no illusions about short-term results,'' a senior Administration official said, ''but the process is going on.'' The evolving strategy, as the senior official described it, is ''to help King Hussein solve his problems.'' The Jordanian King, the official continued, has security problems with Syria and negotiating problems with Israel.

The fever pitch of Wall Street interest in oil stocks in recent weeks has focused in large part on the takeover potential of several companies in this group. But many analysts said yesterday that they are now recommending oil companies for more traditional reasons, even though the pending deal between the Standard Oil Company of California and the Gulf Corporation is almost certainly not the last big oil industry merger. Several analysts cautioned, too, that the Government or Congress could well move to slow or inhibit future takeovers. Todd L. Bergman, vice president and oil analyst for Goldman, Sachs & Company, said, ''Our only recommendations now are entirely on fundamental grounds - such stocks as Atlantic Richfield, Standard of Indiana, Exxon and Kerr-McGee.''

Coleco Industries announced yesterday that it lost $35 million in the fourth quarter, more than twice as much as most industry analysts had predicted. A company spokesman said the ''enormity of the loss'' on the Adam home computer surprised even Coleco's top officials. Contrary to repeated predictions by company officials that Coleco would post a profit for the year, the company said that the fourth-quarter performance had driven it to a loss of $7.4 million for all of 1983. Coleco officials also appeared to back away from predictions made two months ago that the toy, video game and computer manufacturer would make ''a quick return to profitability in the first quarter of 1984.'' In a statement yesterday, the company said its operating plan for 1984 now called ''for a return to profitability during the first six months.''

THURSDAY, MARCH 8, 1984 The Economy Deficit reduction efforts continued in the House and Senate despite the stalled bipartisan negotiations between Congress and the Reagan Administration. The Senate Finance Committee inched closer to finishing a $72 billion package of tax increases and spending cuts, approving a delay through 1987 of leasing benefits that took effect this year. Meanwhile, Democrats on the House Budget Committee began formulating their own package. (Page A1.)

FOR better or worse, the digital revolution has come to the laundry and kitchen. Appliances are beeping, blinking, flashing messages and signaling when doors are ajar, cycles over and motors burned out. And the pace of the revolution will probably pick up. Manufacturers are already tinkering with appliances that listen and speak. Moreover, electronic technology is just one sign of change in the traditionally staid world of home appliances. A series of tremors have shaken the industry, with sizable repercussions for consumers. Appliance costs in real dollars are generally down over the past decade because of fierce competition among manufacturers - but so is the overall selection of washers, dryers, refrigerators, freezers, ranges and dishwashers. Quality has improved because of increased automation in factories - but so has appliance complexity, oftentimes with irksome results.

Gulf Corporation shares plunged $4.50 yesterday on the New York Stock Exchange, to $64.75, in very heavy trading, reflecting persistent concern that Congress might block Gulf's takeover by the Standard Oil Company of California. A total of 4.6 million Gulf shares changed hands, and the stock led the Big Board's most active list. Meanwhile, the Bankers Trust Company, in response to a question, said last night that it had been ready to raise the money for a competing offer for Gulf that would have sidestepped the mounting political opposition. The financing would have been for a leveraged buyout by the investment house of Kohlberg, Kravis, Roberts & Company. Because political opposition to the Gulf-Socal merger has focused on concentration within the oil industry, a leveraged buyout in which none of the funds came from other big oil companies could take the edge off this opposition, analysts said.

As long ago as last August, three different shootings near Pennsylvania Station were linked by police ballistics tests to a single gun. But not until Feb. 21, after three more men had been shot inside the station itself, did the Police Department inform the public and set up a task force of 30 officers that is now combing the area day and night for a sniper. The city's new Police Commissioner, Benjamin Ward, said that headquarters had not known about the pattern of shootings before. Outraged by what he called ''a lapse of judgment on the part of ranking officers,'' he ordered a major shakeup of the Manhattan detective command. The shakeup continued yesterday with the transfer of two inspectors, Joseph G. DeMartino and Stephen Kelly, to uniformed duty.