What was going on when I was born?

Negotiators for General Motors and the United Automobile Workers continued bargaining on national issues early today as about 58,000 workers prepared to prevent 11 plants from resuming production today. However, because bargainers were unable to reach an agreement early enough to notify workers, it appeared all but certain that a strike would continue even if an accord was reached before work was scheduled to begin. A settlement on local issues was reached Sunday night at a plant in California, one of 13 struck Friday, the union announced. The Associated Press quoted K. C. Beck, personnel director at the California plant, as saying the settlement had ''nothing to do with the national agreement.''

America is sobering up - and that is a sobering experience for the alcoholic beverage industry. In a country that has become more alert to health and fitness, more agitated about drunken driving and more mindful of moderation in many social habits, people are drinking less than they have in years. As a result, the entire liquor industry - from distillers and distributors to retailers and bars - is changing the way it does business. Per-capita consumption of distilled spirits fell last year, the fifth year in a row. Beer consumption, after declining in 1982, inched up a bit last year but is down again this year. Though wine drinking rose moderately in 1983, the gain was nothing like the robust advances of the early 1970's.

Dave Johnson remembers the first time he saw Dwight Gooden pitch. It was in the summer of 1982, and Gooden was a tall and lean kid of 17 who had just graduated from Hillsborough High School in Tampa, Fla., a kid reporting for work in the Appalachian Rookie League in Kingsport, Tenn. ''I was the roving instructor for the Mets in the minor leagues,'' Johnson says. ''The manager at Kingsport was Eddie Olsen, but he was still teaching school in San Diego, so they wanted someone to run the club for a couple of weeks and sent me there. ''I saw Gooden pitch for two or three weeks, and said, 'This is the best pitching prospect I ever saw.' And I saw Jimmy Palmer when he came up with the Baltimore Orioles.''

The picture that sits on the desk of Simon Bellamy, the managing director of Interior Trim Ltd., is not a family snapshot - it is a photo of one of two gold-plated DeLorean sports cars built before ill-fated DeLorean Motor Cars Ltd. went bankrupt in 1982. ''It represents a lot of blood, sweat and tears to me,'' said the 33-year-old Mr. Bellamy, who was formerly production manager of CP Trim Ltd., a seat-maker dragged to financial ruin when the DeLorean venture collapsed. For Mr. Bellamy, the DeLorean years proved to be an upsetting but exciting and career-enhancing experience. After CP Trim went into receivership in the spring of 1982, he quickly became involved in setting up Trimtech Ltd., a successor concern that was able to rehire some of CP's stunned work force. Last year, Mr. Bellamy left to found his own company, Interior Trim.

MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 17, 1984 International Israel devalued the shekel by 9 percent and announced a plan to cut this year's $20 billion national budget by $1 billion. These were the first steps taken by the new coalition Government to deal with the country's severe economic problems. (Page A1, Column 3.) Israelis accused of terrorizing Arabs in the West Bank went on trial in Jerusalem. It promises to be among Israel's most politically sensitive trials. The sentiment of the spectators and some of the police guarding the courtroom was clearly for the 20 defendants, despite the prosecution's warning that it was a criminal, not a political trial. (A12:4.)

Forces loyal to Prime Minister Indira Gandhi conceded defeat today and allowed the reinstatement of the Chief Minister of the southern state of Andhra Pradesh, whose removal last month stirred nationwide protests against Mrs. Gandhi's Government. The Chief Minister, N. T. Rama Rao, a highly popular opponent of the Prime Minister, was removed a month ago by a Gandhi-appointed governor on the ground that he had lost his required majority in the state assembly. Although Mrs. Gandhi denied any role in Mr. Rama Rao's ouster, she was attacked for what was widely seen as an attempt to remove an elected state government by undemocratic means. Today a new governor, a leading ally of Mrs. Gandhi, ruled that Mr. Rama Rao had retained his majority and invited him to form a new government. Mr. Rama Rao, who was a film star before entering politics, was sworn in this afternoon in Hyderabad, the capital of Andhra Pradesh, amid scenes of jubilation.

Ask men about Ronald Reagan and they often give two-fisted answers. ''He's a man who, when he says something, sticks to his guns,'' said Dan Luch, a 28-year-old engineer attending a Democratic rally in Detroit. ''It's a John Wayne type of thing, you know, the Cavalry.'' His father, Ken, chimed in: ''Reagan can butt up against the Russians.'' For three years, the fact that women like the President and his party less than men do has chilled Republicans and warmed Democrats, because women now vote in proportions at least as high as men's, and women outnumber men.

Retail sales across the country, which had slowed during the summer enough to arouse concern, have increased sharply for the fall season, signaling what many merchants now believe will be a strong business pace for the rest of the year. Sales gains since the last week in August are generally running double- digit over 1983 in a range of from 10 percent to 35 percent, retailers said in telephone interviews from various cities. The revitalized business is also seen as a bright augury for the Christmas season, which normally yields as much as 30 percent of the year's business and 50 percent of profits. The sales performance particularly since Labor Day and the arrival of cooler weather contrasts dramatically with the year-to-year increases of 5 percent to 10 percent, as well as sales declines, in a number of stores during the summer months. In some companies, a consumer-buying lethargy continued in the month's first week but reversed itself last week.

New York State's Health Commissioner is drafting legislation that would give hospitals and doctors legal authority to withhold emergency life-saving measures in certain cases from terminally ill and dying patients. Doctors now follow guidelines written two years ago by the Medical Society of the State of New York outlining the clinical circumstances under which they may withhold potentially life-prolonging treatment. The guidelines allow the withholding of treatment, such as cardiopulmonary resuscitation, when a doctor agrees with the patient or the patient's family that so- called ''heroic'' measures would only prolong needless suffering. Legal Fears at Issue The society and the state's hospitals have urged the state to adopt such guidelines as law. They say that without legal protection, many physicians and hospitals feel compelled to give emergency treatment to dying patients who suffer cardiac or respiratory failure even though that treatment might violate a patient's ''right to die with dignity.'' The hospitals say they are concerned about potential malpractice suits or criminal homicide charges.

''It's almost stylish not to have too much to drink. It used to be no big deal if you got blind drunk.

A generation ago, Esquire was known as a robust men's magazine, famous for muscular Hemingway prose and long-stemmed pinups. But times have changed, and so has Esquire. In June, the magazine celebrated the ''new American woman'' as ''professional, lover, competitor.'' Today's Esquire reader is a new breed of upscale American male - and female, said Phillip Moffitt, Esquire's 38-year-old president, editor in chief and co-owner, and the magazine accordingly spurns its old-time macho approach.

International oil markets are stabilizing, but not because they are calm. Oil analysts say the recent and expected stability in prices and supplies stems from a fragile balance between strong opposing trends and forces, not unlike two arm wrestlers stalemated on a tabletop. Less output by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries is being offset by higher oil exports from the Soviet bloc. Higher oil use in the United States and Japan is being offset by lower use in Europe. Lower gasoline and heating oil inventories are being offset by higher crude oil stocks and refining capacity.