What was going on when I was born?

Harold Burson, the soft-voiced chairman and chief executive of Burson-Marsteller, cannot resist some discreet crowing. After years of being the second-largest public relations firm after Hill & Knowlton, Burson- Marsteller recently edged into the No. 1 spot on the strength of continuing strong gains in revenues. ''I had always hoped it would happen,'' said Mr. Burson, who got started in public relations as a student at the University of Mississippi. According to the 1984 edition of O'Dwyer's Directory of Public Relations Firms, Burson-Marsteller's 1983 net fee income rose 26 percent from a year earlier, to $63.8 million, surpassing Hill & Knowlton by $3 million. After-tax profit was about $3 million, Mr. Burson said.

T HE Islanders are tired, battered and often emotionally frazzled. Some of them, even with their Stanley Cup rings still sparkling, complain about being benched. Some moan that no matter how successful they are, it is never enough for Coach Al Arbour. There is something else the Islanders have, though. They are the champions, and Bill Torrey, the architect of the club, says that is a dimension they can call on that no one else can. There are other tired, battered, frazzled teams in the National Hockey League - especially now as they grind into the final week of the regular season. And there can be as many as six weeks of playoff hockey ahead.

Anthony J. Alvarado, who became Chancellor of the New York City school system less than a year ago, was suspended with pay by the Board of Education yesterday and directed to answer an array of charges at a formal trial-like hearing. The board's action took place at a five-minute public meeting on Mr. Alvarado's 327th day as chief administrator of the largest school system in the nation. His suspension is to begin today. The Chancellor's suspension came after days of speculation about his future, speculation heightened last week when the city's Department of Investigation issued an interim report about Mr. Alvarado's personal finances and professional behavior. Assertions in the Report The report said the Chancellor had violated the Board of Education's conflict-of-interest policy and the City Charter's standards of ethics by borrowing thousands of dollars from subordinates. It concluded that Mr. Alvarado's conduct had ''demonstrated a serious lack of judgment and created a strong appearance of impropriety.''

Supermarkets in the 1950's were reluctant to stock the canned and packaged Caribbean foods produced by Goya Foods Inc. In those days the Hispanic market was negligible, Latin food was not yet fashionable, and few people cared that Goya's beans were cholesterol- free. All that has changed, and Goya has become one of the leading Hispanic- owned companies in the nation. Now its 700 products are found not only in the small ''bodegas'' of the barrio but also in major urban supermarkets. According to the 1980 census, there were 20 million people in the United States of Hispanic descent, constituting the nation's fastest-growing consumer segment. But the Hispanic market, never a monolithic entity in this country, is more cosmopolitan than it was a generation ago. So Goya is developing new products and adopting new marketing strategies.

Cecil Thompson, who runs a Shell service station in Mesa, Ariz., used to buy auto accessories from the Shell Oil Company to supply his highly profitable service and repair business. ''Fan belts, hoses, spark plugs,'' Mr. Thompson recalls, ''shock absorbers, radiator chemicals, polishes and waxes.'' But that was before a decade of change transformed the automotive aftermarket. ''Today the only products you can buy from Shell,'' Mr. Thompson said in a telephone interview, ''are tires, batteries and filters. Nothing else is available from them.''

Documents have been uncovered that contain apparent conflicts with a key element of the Boeing Company's defense in a negligence suit growing out of the crash of an Air India Boeing 747 in 1978. All 213 people aboard the jumbo jet were killed when it rolled over shortly after a night takeoff from Bombay and dived into the Arabian Sea. The documents, obtained by The New York Times after a series of interviews with industry and government officials in the United States, Canada and Britain, and resulting requests to the British Government and industry experts for supporting data, relate to two other incidents involving failures of a cockpit instrument that is at the core of the Air India litigation. Reopening of Case Sought The plaintiffs, citing recordings of the pilots' last words, have argued that malfunctions of the instrument system were the cause of the crash. Defendants have contended that it was caused by errors of a disoriented pilot who rolled the plane left when he mistakenly sensed that it was ''falling off strong to the right.''

May Duncan, Cleatrice Thompson, Betty Couser, Mary Burnetter and Joe Daley spend their days in the State Capitol catering to the needs of the political people, carrying the Governor up in an elevator or serving a senator a grilled-cheese sandwich. But now the lunchtime rush was over and those people who keep things going at the Capitol were going over a bit of politics themselves in the first-floor cafeteria. On April 3, they will be asked to vote in a primary that for the first time in years might actually have something to do with who becomes the Democratic candidate for President. Other primaries, of course, have narrowed the field to former Vice President Walter F. Mondale, Senator Gary Hart of Colorado and the Rev. Jesse Jackson.

The Economy Soaring housing sales are likely to come under pressure from higher interest rates, economists say. Many of them add that homeowners with adjustable-rate mortgages could be hard pressed. But for the moment, the specter of higher rates appears to be bolstering housing activity rather than dampening it because consumers are buying now, hoping to avoid higher rates later. (Page A1.)

Salvadorans turned out to vote for President in large numbers, but voting for the eight candidates was hindered by shortages of ballots and ballot boxes and by widespread confusion over election rules. Officials of the Christian Democratic Party charged that there were serious problems in about one-quarter of the voting places in El Salvador, the capital, where their party is believed to be strongest. They said they might move to have the elections annulled. (Page A1, Column 6.) Guerrillas tried to foil the elections in eastern El Salvador. In the guerrilla- controlled town of Meanguera, people who rose early to vote were confronted by roadblocks and then had to wade across a river to get to a voting booth. (A1:3.)

At the Garden of Prayer Temple Church today, Bishop L. E. Willis was preaching, the congregation was saying ''amen'' and both were remembering the day ''the dream came true.'' Churchgoers, encouraged by ministers like Bishop Willis, and other blacks flooded the Democratic caucuses in this community and other cities in the Tidewater area Saturday. By the time they were through, the participants had provided the Rev. Jesse Jackson with one of his more impressive caucus showings in the race for the Presidential nomination. Virginia's delegate-selection process was far from over, but Mr. Jackson was in a virtual dead heat with the favorite, Walter F. Mondale, the former Vice President. Senator Gary Hart of Colorado ran a distant third.

Once again, the Houston Cougars are going to the Final Four, in celebration of a successful season and to quiet the critics who continue to harp about past promises they did not keep. But the Cougars said they were not afraid of failure this time. Instead, the members of Phi Slama Jama are looking forward to showcasing a fraternity brother who might be the most dominating player in the college game. Houston (31-4) earned its third consecutive trip to the Final Four when it defeated Wake Forest, 68-63, in the Midwest Regional final today. And the player who was the difference was Akeem Olajuwon, the 7-foot junior center who dominated offensively and defensively in one of his more spirited games this season.

An article on the Style page March 17 about the high price of cabbage misidentified Fredric T. Pfaff. He is executive vice president of the American Institute of Food Distribution in Fair Lawn, N.J.