What was going on when I was born?

The ashes of Defense Minister Dmitri F. Ustinov were lodged in the Kremlin wall today in a bitterly cold ceremony marked by the absence of the Soviet leader, Konstantin U. Chernenko. It was unclear whether Mr. Chernenko had stayed away because of ill health or because of the temperature, which dropped to just below zero Fahrenheit and set the normally stoic troops massed in Red Square to stamping and hopping in place. Two days earlier, paying respects at Marshal Ustinov's bier, Mr. Chernenko had looked pale and unsteady. Diplomats said it would have made sense for him to stay away today, given his history of lung problems. But they also recalled that absences from such ceremonies in the past have signaled failing health for Soviet leaders.

The New York City police were flooded with telephone calls yesterday from people expressing support for a man who shot four teen-agers who investigators said had tried to get $5 from him on a subway car last Saturday. The calls came into a hot line that the police had set up for information that might lead them to the neatly dressed man in wire-rim glasses who disappeared into a dark subway tunnel in lower Manhattan after the shooting. Hundreds of the callers praised him. Some volunteered to help pay for the gunman's defense if he was arrested, and a few suggested that he should run for mayor.

Arbitrators today handed down terms for a new contract for postal workers that includes modest wage increases but sharply lower starting pay for new employees. The award marked the first time outside referees have settled a collective bargaining dispute within the Federal Government. It ended five months of stalemate between the Postal Service and its two largest unions, the National Association of Letter Carriers and the American Postal Workers Union. The unanimous award by the five arbitrators, which by law is binding on both the Postal Service and the unions, is retroactive to July 21, the day after the old contract expired.

A few weeks ago, Prime Minister Shimon Peres was visiting a school in Ashkelon, a town known politically as Ariel Sharon country and a place where, in the past, Mr. Peres ran the risk of being pelted with tomatoes. This time, though, when the Prime Minister stepped into the crowd of Sephardic Jewish students, they hurled not tomatoes but chants of ''Peres! Peres!'' - as though he were the town's favorite son. Mr. Peres's face brightened with embarrassment at the cheers. He is not accustomed to such open adulation, but it has been coming his way lately as never before.

Burglars broke into the vault of an armored-car company in Perth Amboy, N.J., and made off with $3 million to $4 million in cash and checks from large retail stores, the authorities said yesterday. The burglars struck the York Armored Car and Courier Corporation sometime between 7:30 P.M. Sunday and 4:25 A.M. yesterday, and got away with dozens of bags filled with the stores' receipts from the busy pre- Christmas weekend, said Alan A. Rockoff, the Middlesex County Prosecutor. The burglars, he said, broke through a window, turned off two electronic alarm systems and drilled through a foot of brick, mortar and steel mesh to get into the vault.

Nine years after Angola's independence, pro- Western guerrillas have greatly increased their attacks on the Marxist central Government here, crippling the economy and forcing the Angolans to rely more and more on Cuban troops and East bloc arms for survival. The insurgency spreading across this nation, which is potentially one of the wealthiest countries in black Africa, appears to have blocked chances of any quick withdrawal of the more than 30,000 Cuban soldiers here. The Cubans were brought in at Angola's request in 1975 to help fight the South African- backed Angolan guerrilla movement. The issue of the Cubans has been linked to another regional issue, the future status of the neighboring South African-administered territory of South- West Africa, also known as Namibia. A United States-led initiative has been under way to arrange an agreement between Angola and South Africa that would lead to independence in Namibia in tandem with the withdrawal of the Cuban forces from Angola.

It was Friday evening, so the man and the woman from France came to Le Safari restaurant, ordered a carafe of wine and then settled at their table, below the trees, relaxed and wafted by benevolent zephyrs. ''A little patience, it won't be much longer,'' said the woman from France who runs the Le Safari. So they waited a little longer. And waited. And waited. Then in the distance they heard it, all power and promise, a great roaring of jet engines that came closer and louder until the rumble of its reverse thrust signaled a landing.

TUESDAY, DECEMBER 25, 1984 International Immurement rites in Moscow for the ashes of Defense Minister Dmitri F. Ustinov were marked by the absence of the Soviet leader, Konstantin U. Chernenko. It was not clear whether Mr. Chernenko had stayed away because of ill health or because of temperatures that dropped to just below zero Fahrenheit. Mr. Chernenko had looked pale and unsteady on a visit to the bier of the late Defense Minister. (Page 1, Column 6. ) Shimon Peres appears to be on top in Israeli politics 100 days after taking office as Prime Minister, having outmaneuvered his political rival and coalition partner, Yitzhak Shamir. He was recently greeted warmly in a town where he had often been scorned in the past, and in a public poll his popularity has risen sharply. (1:4.)

The police said today that they were convinced that an explosion aboard a train packed with holiday travelers was caused by a bomb planted by terrorists. At the same time, officials issued a revised casualty list in the explosion, which occurred Sunday night about 30 miles north of this northern Italian town. Initially, Italian news agencies reported that 25 people had been killed. But authorities later said 15 had died and 180 were injured.

Confronted with a moribund economy at home and a trend toward democratization among its neighbors, Guatemala is engaged in a major effort to improve its international image and strengthen its ties with other countries. The effort, which includes holding presidential elections next year, is intended to cleanse Guatemala's image as an international pariah guilty of major human-rights abuses. A key element in the strategy, according to Guatemalan officials, is to regain the full support of the United States after seven years of often frosty relations because of institutionalized political killings by Government security forces. The mastermind of the new policy is considered to be Foreign Minister Fernando Andrade Diaz-Duran, a millionaire lawyer and skilled negotiator who appears to have the complete confidence of Guatemala's military leader, Brig. Gen. Oscar Mejia Victores. In the 16 months since General Mejia Victores took power in a coup, Mr. Andrade has made Guatemala one of the leading backers of the Contadora regional peace effort while assiduously courting the support of West European and Latin American democracies.

A year ago Secretary General Javier Perez de Cuellar sought to draw the world's attention to what he saw as an impending economic and social disaster in Africa. The response, diplomats and United Nations officials say, was inadequate. Now, with attention focused on the 150 million Africans suffering from hunger, Mr. Perez de Cuellar has been asking for help again. This time his appeal is coupled with what is likely to be a long-term coordinating operation.

President P. W. Botha of South Africa said in a Christmas and New Year's message today that his Government was committed to the advancement and ''constitutional development'' of blacks. But he made it clear that he did not foresee an accommodation with those seeking ''radical political gain.'' That message was reinforced by a statement from the Prisons Service offering pardons to 44 long-term prisoners but specifically excluding Nelson Mandela, leader of the outlawed African National Congress.