What was going on when I was born?

The Rev. Martin Luther King Sr., one of the South's most influential black clergymen for decades and the father of the slain civil rights leader who bore his name, died of heart disease yesterday in Atlanta. He was 84 years old. Mr, King, who suffered from cardiac problems in recent years, was stricken at home yesterday evening and rushed to Crawford W. Long Memorial Hospital in Atlanta where he was pronounced dead, a hospital spokesman said. For 44 years Mr. King served as pastor of the Ebenezer Baptist Church, one of the South's leading black congregations, and he remained a major force in the civic life of Atlanta after retiring from that pulpit. Though he was a pioneer leader in Atlanta civil rights battles, the national influence of ''Daddy King,'' as he was called, came largely through his son.

On May 16, the police raided the Los Angeles home of Thomas G. Tcimpidis and seized his personal computer and data storage devices. The ensuing case has ignited a nationwide debate that could influence the future of computerized communications and electronic publishing. Mr. Tcimpidis, a 33-year-old television engineer, was using his home computer as a high-technology version of the supermarket bulletin board. Other computer owners could connect their computers - at no charge - to his computer over the telephone and post messages or read those left by others. But at least one of the messages on Mr. Tcimpidis' bulletin board contained telephone credit card numbers that had been obtained without authorization. Mr. Tcimpidis is now facing misdemeanor charges for ''knowingly and willfully publishing'' the numbers with the intent they be used by people to avoid telephone charges.

MONDAY, NOVEMBER 12, 1984 International Israel offered to begin a cease-fire in south Lebanon with the Shiite Moslem militia there. The move was a response to Lebanon's suspension of troop withdrawal talks over the arrest of a group of Moslem militiamen. (Page A1, Column 4.) Israel destroyed 28 homes of Palestinian farmers in the West Bank of the Jordan Valley. Israel has now destroyed nearly 80 such houses in the last 10 days, according to a spokesman for the Civil Administration, the Israeli agency that governs occupied territories, who said the houses were built without permission. (A14:4.)

Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi has barely begun to confront the daunting challenges and the opportunities for new beginnings that he faces. But it has already become apparent to many here that if he survives politically, he will differ significantly from his mother in policy and style. India and Mr. Gandhi appear to have come through the horrible days after Indira Gandhi's assassination more or less on an even keel. The riots in the capital, in which at least 600 people were killed, appear to have ended. Life in the rest of the country, where at least 400 others died violently, seems to have returned nearly to normal. And Mr. Gandhi is widely credited with having successfully projected at least an image of poise, strength and continuity in government at a dangerous moment for national stability. Signs of Openness Continuity aside, the 40-year-old Prime Minister has shown signs that his Government, if it lasts, will be more open, less imperial and less authoritarian than that of his mother, and that he will delegate authority and rely on consensus more than did Mrs. Gandhi, who tended to hold power closely and was known to mistrust some of the people to whom Mr. Gandhi has already made gestures of unity.

The nation's vigorous economy may have played a major role in President Reagan's overwhelming re-election, but most analysts doubt that the economic performance Americans endorsed last Tuesday is the one they will get in the coming four years. ''A mild recession is shaping up,'' said A. Gary Shilling, who runs an economic consulting firm bearing his name. ''In fact, we may already be in it. The election doesn't change that. But people vote the past rather than the future.''

A dispatch on the Washington Talk page Oct. 30 about the addition of a statue to the site of the Vietnam Memorial incompletely described the memorial's black granite wall. It lists Americans missing in action as well as those killed.

President Reagan formally accepted the privately financed Vietnam Veterans memorial for the nation today, calling it a symbol of healing. ''This memorial is a symbol of both past and current sacrifice,'' Mr. Reagan said to a throng estimated by the United States Park Police at 150,000 people. ''The war in Vietnam threatened to tear our society apart, and the political and philosophical disagreements that separated each side continue, to some extent,'' he said. ''It's been said that these memorials reflect a hunger for healing.''

Sales of video cassette recorders, already booming as prices drop, are getting an additional push this year from two major innovations: stereo sound and the ''camcorder'' - a lightweight, hand-held, battery-powered camera/recorder combination. Video cassette recorders are so hot, in fact, that with production capacity currently at 100 percent and no inventory built up at the retail level, some manufacturers are warning of shortages over the Christmas season. ''We have a backlog in orders for several models - especially the low- end basic unit and the high-end deluxe line,'' said Fred Wahlstrom, spokesman for the Sony Corporation. ''We can't make enough of some of them.'' Gerald M. McCarthy, president of the Zenith Sales Company, the sales and marketing arm of the Zenith Company, said: ''Sales have surpassed all expectations. The units are going out of the stores as fast as we can ship them in. There is little doubt there'll be shortages of selected models.''

They had acquired a reputation around the National Hockey League as cocky rogues, overly impressed with everything about themselves, from their hockey skills to their haberdashery. The Edmonton Oilers had an image as the team that was sassy to airline stewardesses and smug to opponents, the team that always cruised into town with more than a bit of a swagger - and until this year, the team that always got its comeuppance in the playoffs. But this year, the Oilers are the Stanley Cup champions. They can finally justify their swagger. And they seem more confident than ever on the ice, where last Friday they broke the record for the longest unbeaten streak at the start of the season, 15 games (12-0-3), surpassing the 1943-44 Montreal Canadiens. The streak ended last night with a 7-5 loss to Philadelphia. Yet despite the Stanley Cup rings flashing on their fingers, the Oilers' famous arrogance seems to have mellowed. It's as if the championship brought with it a stylish but conservative three-piece suit to wear, instead of the latest leather jacket and flashy jeans, and the Oilers are toning down their image to match it.

Brazil will seek to postpone repayment of $49.3 billion in foreign credits coming due over the next five years when it meets its principal creditors in New York this week, according to Brazilian officials. They also said that Brazil would not request ''fresh money'' to add to its $98 billion foreign debt and expressed the hope that the banking community would ''reward'' the country for its improved economic performance over the past 12 months. ''Foreign bankers are aware of the enormous effort made by Brazil,'' the Planning Secretary, Ant^onio Delfim Netto, said a few days ago. ''They know that we're over the worst, that we have overcome the crisis without adopting any of the ridiculous things that were proposed, such as a moratorium or a suspension of payments.''

American oil refiners are having a terrible year, squeezed by flagging demand, excess capacity, new overseas refineries and a rise in imports of gasoline and heating oil. Analysts expect this year's profits of the 11 largest domestic refiners to plummet 57 percent, to $1 billion, from 1983's $2.4 billion. The two largest refiners, the Chevron Corporation and Texaco Inc., are projected to lose a combined $254 million this year. This is in dramatic contrast to the banner years of 1981 and 1982. The plight of domestic refiners will be a major topic when the American Petroleum Institute convenes in New Orleans today. Dozens of refineries have closed, and many that remain open are paying more for crude oil than they receive for the products they make from it. Moreover, prospects for rapid improvement appear bleak.

The first stage of Japan's ambitious 10-year project to build a new kind of computer enabled the Japanese to catch up with research in other countries but resulted in no scientific breakthroughs, according to interviews with more than a dozen American and European scientists here. Three years ago, Japan's announcement of a project to create the so-called fifth-generation computers by the 1990's jolted the computer community. Japanese scientists aimed to develop computers that would have elementary reasoning abilities, be far easier to use and perform more sophisticated tasks than any machine available today. Such computers could, for instance, accept spoken commands, translate languages, diagnose diseases and serve financial advisers. Furthermore, they could be used by the average person without the series of complicated commands now required.