What was going on when I was born?

Sedco Inc., regarded by many analysts as the world's best offshore drilling company, said yesterday that it was ''engaged in active negotiations'' with another company concerning a takeover. The Dallas-based enterprise said it had scheduled a board meeting for today to consider the merger plan, but it declined to name its suitor or specify the terms. It added that no assurance could be given that an agreement would be reached.

Because of an editing error, an article in The Home Section yesterday about closet redesign misattributed a mail-order service. The service, in which the customer fills out a ''green sheet'' listing closet dimensions, is offered by the Closet Systems Corporation, 1175 Broadway, Hewlett, N.Y. 11557.

''The Maori'' at the Metropolitan Museum is an exhibition of Maori art from New Zealand collections. As such, it is the first show of its kind to be sanctioned by the Maoris, for whom the works in question have an importance that far exceeds even the awe and admiration with which Rembrandt is regarded by the Dutch or Velazquez by the Spaniards. Maori art - and in this context, as will be seen, the word ''art'' can be disputed - is of absolutely primordial importance to the Maori. Not only is it what he values most in his inheritance, but also it could almost be said to be all that survives of his inheritance. It is the sacrament, the energizing force and the hope of continuity. As is by now widely known, the exhibition was inaugurated not in the conventional way but in the course of a ceremony at dawn on the steps of the Metropolitan. (This will be repeated when the show moves later to the St. Louis Art Museum and to the M. H. de Young Museum in San Francisco.) We are dealing, that is to say, with sacred forces, rather than with exalted curiosities. When we reach the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery in the Met, we find that the exhibition is not large and that almost all the objects are fragmentary.

Reagan Administration officials said today that the White House had reversed its position and decided against the early release of a report charging the Soviet Union with numerous violations of arms control treaties. The delay was ordered, one official said, at least until after Secretary of State George P. Shultz meets with Foreign Minister Andrei A. Gromyko of the Soviet Union in New York Sept. 26, and President Reagan and Mr. Shultz see Mr. Gromyko here two days later. ''Some people would say that releasing the report would poison the atmosphere for the talks, that we were not serious about seeking agreements,'' a State Department official said. ''I don't know if it would poison the atmosphere, but why run that risk.''

The clothes have been gathered together for donation to the Salvation Army. Cuff links, tie clips and cologne have been given away. The large brown ashtray remains at one end of the coffee table, where it has been for years. But it will soon be put on a shelf, hidden from view. Annie Hunter is lovingly doing away with the everyday reminders of one man's life. Malachi, her husband of nearly 17 years, died in June. And now Mrs. Hunter is in the grip of one of those universally shared experiences, inevitable for anyone with loved ones. In her grief, she is trying to adjust to the void. The journey from painful disbelief to acceptance will, of course, take time, for while symbols of familiarity can be hidden from sight, matters of the heart extend far beyond the five senses.

Parliament approved a Government of national unity early today that includes both the Labor Party and the Likud bloc. Shimon Peres, the Labor Party leader, then took the oath as Israel's eighth Prime Minister. The Parliament voted the new Government into office after more than eight hours of debate. The vote was 89 to 18, with 1 abstention. As the debate Thursday proceeded into the night, the 12 other legislators left before the vote was taken. The vote came after seven weeks of political wrangling, culminating in three days of round-the-clock negotiations.

A dispatch from Montreal Wednesday on the visit of Pope John Paul II gave an incorrect birthdate for Sister Marie-Leonie Paradis, who was beatified in a ceremony presided over by the Pope. She was born in 1840.

Friday GINSBERG MEETS VIDEO Allen Ginsberg does not watch television. He does not even own a set. And yet he has made his first video - a 3- to 5-minute dramatization of his poem ''Father Death Blues.'' Mr. Ginsberg reads, or rather sings the poem, which was inspired by his father's death. Ellis Island serves as the backdrop. Mr. Ginsberg's piece, as well as videos by two other poets, one by Anne Waldman called ''Uh-Oh Plutonium!'' and one by Bob Holman called ''Rapp It Up,'' will be shown tonight at the Public Theater, 425 Lafayette Street. In addition to the videos, all three will read from their poetry. There are two performances - at 7:30 and 9:30 - and each lasts about 80 minutes. Tickets, $12; with a reception at Danceteria at midnight, $15. Reservations and information: 598-7150. COMPUTERS AT COLISEUM

Pan American World Airways, which has lost more than $650 million in the last three years, announced yesterday that it would spend more than $1 billion to acquire or lease a total of 28 wide-body and standard-body passenger jetliners from Airbus Industrie between 1987 and 1990. In the meantime, the agreement, announced at a news conference by Pan Am's chairman, C. Edward Acker, calls for Pan Am to lease 16 A300 series wide-body jets from the European aircraft maker until 1987. After 1990, the carrier has the option to acquire or lease a total of 47 more Airbus jetliners. The sale to Pan Am is a coup for Airbus - a consortium of French, British, West German and Spanish aircraft makers that has struggled for a decade to penetrate the American aircraft market. The agreement also represents a defeat for the Boeing Company, which had fought Airbus hard for the Pan Am order.

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 14, 1984 International A Government of national unity based on power sharing by the two major political groups, the Labor Party and the Likud bloc, was approved by Israel's Parliament. Shimon Peres then took the oath as Israel's eighth Prime Minister. (Page A1, Col. 6.) A U.S. report accusing Moscow of arms treaty violations will not be released soon, according to Reagan Administration officials. One official said the delay was ordered by the White House at least until after Foreign Minister Andrei A. Gromyko meets with President Reagan and Secretary of State George P. Shultz at the White House on Sept. 28. (A1:5.)

A county judge declined today to rule that the Burning Tree Club, the "club of the Presidents," must admit women. But she said that because it does not do so, it must lose a $186,000-a-year real estate tax exemption. The 640-member club, founded in 1922, has never admitted women as members, as guests or even as kitchen workers.

For people who want to bid on a wooden hanger that once belonged to Ernest Hemingway, dance the hula, learn how to ''crime-proof'' a home, buy a rare book, get advice on how to get a book published, watch a fitness demonstration for children, fill in a giant crossword puzzle, meet Snoopy or Garfield, vote on who's cuter - the Mayor or the Governor - the sixth ''New York Is Book Country'' fair is the place to go. From 11 A.M. to 5 P.M. on Sunday more than 200,000 browsers and buyers are expected to poke into 205 exhibits that will line a traffic- free Fifth Avenue between 48th and 57th Streets, and spill over into 52d and 53d Streets. And the show goes on even if Hurricane Diana is among the browsers. The fair is less a literary gathering than a festive promotion of books and book-related items from a panoply of publishers, booksellers and small presses. Tens of thousands of books on a mind-boggling range of subjects will be displayed, from miniature art books and coupon cookbooks to the latest in trivia and computermania.